We’re not sure about you but once in a while, we do appreciate a car that doesn’t try to shove its entire raft of on-board electronics down your throat. As Auto Express understands, Renault is in the midst of working on a concept compact car that harks back to hatches from a bygone era – in terms of hardware, at least.
Aimed to sit alongside the Clio (RS pictured above), the Renault Value Up concept was conceived as far back as 2011 by Renault’s Co-operative Innovations Laboratory (LCI) team. The concept is reported to employ a 1.0 litre, three-cylinder engine that will emit around 100 g/km of CO2. A possible plug-in hybrid version trims that figure down to 45 g/km of CO2.
The concept goes down the route of efficiency by not only using a small engine but also keeping the weight of the car itself low. With natural materials such as bamboo and various types of wood being applied throughout the structure, the concept weighs in at just 830 kg.
An approach of this nature may seem obsolete, but do remember that the Mitsubishi Attrage/Mirage also utilises a similar concept in striving for optimum efficiency. With that said, the interior is the complete opposite of the car’s humble, no-nonsense powertrain layout.
Inside, the Renault Value Up concept features a futuristic digital dash that includes two seven-inch LCD screens – one replacing the traditional row of gauges, and another set to the left of the steering wheel. The rest of the centre console and dashboard is taken up by two 15.9-inch LCD screens placed side by side.
The screens are arranged in a landscape layout as opposed to the portrait formation found in the Tesla Model S. As a result, access to nearly all of the controls will be via the screens. Passengers will be able to watch videos from the same screen, but a visual filter ensures the driver will have none of it.
Solen Kerleroux, an electronic engineer responsible for the interior technology, claims that the system syncs perfectly with the Apple Car Play and Android Auto platform. In fact, the tech could be employed on production vehicles as soon as “two to three years, if the green light was given now.”
As for potential production of the Value Up, the LCI team’s head of product strategy, Serge Mouangue, is quoted as saying the car is “just a prototype now, a laboratory, and it won’t be produced as it is.”
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