Cars
Renault Avantime. A name, a destiny
The Renault Avantime was a concept car presented in 1999 at the Geneva Motor Show and launched on the market in 2001. It combined the bodywork of a three-door coupé with the practicality of an MPV and boasted bold new style features.
Renault cars have always stood out for their bold and original designs, and the Avantime is perhaps the most striking example of this. In 1984, the French manufacturer’s Espace, a hugely popular MPV, met with considerable success, delivering great sales volumes. The Espace was manufactured, for Renault, by Matra, an aerospace industry specialist that also boasted a strong motor sport tradition. Given the importance of the model, in 1991 Renault decided to introduce a new Espace model, moving the production in house.
After a long time under development, Renault unveiled Avantime, a concept car that combined the rationality of the Espace with the refinement of a coupé
Meanwhile, Matra was entrusted with another project, futuristic and unconventional. This materialized in the form of a car originally called the “CoupéSpace”. Presented in 1999 at the Geneva Motor Show, this concept car, renamed “Avantime”, combined the bodywork of a three-door coupé with the practicality of an MPV. It boasted bold new style features: for example, it eliminated the central pillar, and had a laterally arched, almost perfectly vertical, rear window, set above a clearly spacious trunk. The car was launched on the market in 2001, equipped with a 2946cc V6 engine with an output of 207 HP, a choice reflecting its top-of-the range status.
