2023 Renault Espace Morphs Into An SUV, Will Debut This Spring

The Renault Espace, the French pioneer in the minivan segment since 1983, will get an all-new sixth-generation model set to debut in spring 2023. The new Espace will unravel yonder from its predecessors in terms of bodystyle, morphing into an SUV that appears to be heavily based on the Austral.

The French visitor published the first teaser of the 2023 Espace showing a part of its rear end with Austral-sourced LED taillights confirming earlier spy shots. Renault said that the new Espace is an SUV designed for long journeys, with five or seven seats. The automaker described the new model as “comfortable, innovative, and top of the range” pursuit in the footsteps of the previous generations.

Read: Stretched Renault Austral Spotted Again, Set To Replace The Espace

The new Renault Espace will be based on the CMF-CD tracery which moreover underpinned the previous generation. The same platform is used in the Renault Austral, Nissan X-Trail, and Mitsubishi Outlander. We guess that engine options will be carried over from the Austral, including mild-hybrid and full-hybrid setups while a plug-in hybrid could moreover join the range at a later stage since the hardware is once there.

Spy shots from last year showed that the model will squint very similar to the Renault Austral, albeit with a stretched wheelbase and rear overhang resulting in a increasingly spacious cabin. Unlike the Austral which is only misogynist in a five-seater layout, the Espace will moreover come in a seven-seater savor subtracting practicality to the mix. Reading between the lines, the model will likely serve as a replacement for both the fifth-gen Espace (2015-2022) and the second-gen Koleos (2016-2022). In terms of rivals, it will compete with the likes of the Skoda Kodiaq, VW Tiguan Allspace, Peugeot 5008, and Nissan X-Trail in the D-SUV segment in Europe.

Renault will gloat the 40th year-end of the Espace nameplate in November 2023. This sounds like a unconfined excuse to bring all of the Espace generations together. Contradicting older reports, the French automaker decided to use both the Scenic and the Espace nameplates in its future lineup, keeping the spirit of the iconic minivans working in their SUV replacements.