German Car Forum

Official presentation in Cannes
Ladies and gentlemen, this is no rendering at all. Hours prior to the official reveal of the Renault Mégane Coupé, its official pictures have leaked in the internet, anticipating the beautiful lines of this French car. Carlos Ghosn, Renault CEO, would be the first one to present the car to the public in Cannes, but the World Wide Web has given World Car Fans an overview of what, according to the Spanish site KM77.com, will be available to the Europeans by the third quarter of 2008.

As images may worth a thousand words, there is very little to say about the car that you cannot figure out for yourself, but the rear end has kept the same ideas presented by Laguna Coupé Concept, as well as most of its lines. Other features, such as hidden door handles and LED headlamps, have not made it into the production version. The engine the concept presented, a 3-litre V 6 turbodiesel that generated 235 bhp, has not been officially confirmed so far (it is a matter of hours), but CarScoop states it will be available, as well as the 2-litre four cylindre petrol engine already used by Laguna and a 3.5-litre V6 petrol motor delivering 240 bhp. Official information will come out very soon. Stay tuned!


worldcarfans

Modern Renaults are ugly, this is the one exception.

finally a new french sport coupé with fluent lines
the new generation is definitly going to look better - the spy shots of the new megane are very promising

Wow, too much Aston Martin!

^ yeah, the lights look good but the car is to squashed and tall!

AMV8 inspired rear end. The car could have been a stunner but the snout-like shape of the boot lid ruined it a little, they over exaggerated. Worst of all is the shaping of the side windows around the C-pillar. The window doesn't flow will the rest of the car at all and distorts the overall design. They should have gone with a similar shape of the rear side window like Audi did with the A5:

Agreed, first thing that poped in my head when I saw the rear was:
"wait a minute, they ripped AM"

... nonetheless, a pretty coupe.

I think exactly the opposite... The A5 would have been much better if they didn't botched the rear side windows...

It looks like they were out of ideas to make it look less like an A4 and not too much like a TT.

For the Renault... the front is way too much like Peugeot... But with an AM grill...

not to bad

Good looking but the front could have been much better without this ultra ugly grill.

jep, definitly agree with that one

Renault Laguna Coupe Officially Unveiled at Cannes Film Festival

Press Release
RENAULT LAGUNA COUPÉ :
FOR SHEER MOTORING ENJOYMENT

Renault has chosen the glamorous weekend which sees the Cannes Film Festival coincide with the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix to take the wraps off Laguna Coupe.
The flowing lines of the newcomer’s elegant, uncluttered design express timeless beauty and the promise of sheer motoring enjoyment. Its performance provides unprecedented pleasure behind the wheel thanks to the combination of its Active Drive chassis equipped with four-wheel steering – which has been acclaimed by the media across Europe on the GT version of Renault Laguna – and the two new V6 powerplants which have been introduced at the same time as this image-forging vehicle. The brand new V6 dCi, which is poised to become a benchmark in terms of performance and pleasure, delivers 235hp (173kW), while the new 3.5-liter petrolpowered V6 offers 240hp (175kW). Laguna Coupe stands out as an inspiring, fourseater with genuine sensual appeal and will be shown in further detail at the forthcoming Paris Motor Show in October.

Saturday May 24 saw Renault President Carlos Ghosn arrive at the foot of the illustrious steps of the 61st Festival International du Film de Cannes at the wheel of Renault Laguna Coupe. The occasion marked the first public showing of the new model’s definitive, distinctive lines and was a fitting way for the carmaker to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its exclusive partnership with the famous film festival. Renault Laguna Coupe also profited from the weekend to make a guest appearance around the track of the 66th Monaco Grand Prix to showcase its sporting credentials. Two Laguna Coupes completed several laps of Monaco’s legendary circuit in the hands of ING Renault F1 Team test drivers Lucas di Grassi and Romain Grosjean, providing the many thousands of spectators with a unique and unexpected show.

Renault Laguna Coupe bears a close resemblance to the racy concept car revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2007, while its elegant styling and proportions boast all the hallmarks associated with truly exceptional coupes. Its distinctive front end suggests the presence under the bonnet of the finest Renault-Nissan Alliance engines which have been designed and developed to ensure supreme driving enjoyment. Indeed, Renault Laguna Coupe is capable of accelerating from standstill to 100kph in less than seven seconds, and this upper-range performance combines with the Active Drive chassis and four-wheel steering to deliver optimum pleasure at the wheel.

Head-turning, racy styling

The flowing lines of Renault Laguna Coupe’s elegant, uncluttered design express a blend of timeless beauty and the promise of sheer motoring enjoyment. There is no mistaking the legacy it has inherited from the show car unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2007 and from the Renault Laguna range at the top of which it is destined to preside. With a length of 4.64 metres and a width of 1.83 metres, its proportions are nicely balanced, while the character line which stems from the grille rises forcefully along its flanks, like a wave of air, gracefully underpinning the design of its front wings before extending rearwards to highlight its muscular haunches. The glazed area of its windows is shown off to its best advantage by a pure, flowing arc. Sitting on its 17- or 18-inch aluminum alloy wheels, Laguna Coupe’s stance exudes a sense of dynamism and power thanks to a wheelbase dimension of 2.69m and a height of 1.40m. This sensation is echoed by the pronounced crease-lines of its long bonnet and by its new variant headlamps. The rear, meanwhile, features a very short overhang and broad, slim lights which give Laguna Coupe a bright, distinctive lighting signature which suggests refinement and power, especially at night when the indicators form a halo that picks out the contours of the thin red LEDs.

Four-wheel steering for an exceptional ride

Developed jointly by Renault Engineering and specialists from Renault Sport Technologies, Laguna Coupe’s technologically-advanced chassis guarantees the ultimate in dynamic performance. Its outstanding agility and stability set new standards when it comes to safety and surefooted handling, while the new car corners with unrivalled directional precision as if it were on rails. Following its introduction on the GT version of Renault Laguna, this chassis has naturally been carried over to Laguna Coupe and is particularly suited to being powered by the new car’s V6 engines. At low speeds, the Active Drive chassis and four-wheel steering system enhance manoeuvrability and it takes drivers no time at all to familiarize themselves with their characteristics. In town, as well as on twisty roads, the car is easy to drive and offers outstanding handling precision. It makes choosing the optimal cornering line intuitive and further enhances the pleasure experienced behind Renault Laguna Coupe’s wheel, a feeling reinforced by the absence of transient dynamic phenomena through turns and by its directional precision at small low steering wheel angles. On the active safety front, the Active Drive chassis equipped with four-wheel steering excels not only under braking in difficult conditions (asymmetric grip, deployment of ESP), but also when taking avoidance action (the so-called ‘elk test’). Meanwhile, the high level of travelling comfort ensures peace of mind for all occupants who can sense Laguna Coupe’s unrivalled active safety.

Powertrains with pedigree

Under the bonnet of Renault Laguna Coupe, the brand-new V6 dCi, which is destined to become a benchmark in terms of performance and driving pleasure, develops 235hp (173kW) and peak torque of 450Nm. The same figure for the petrol 3.5 V6 powerplant, which is mated for the first time with the AJ0 automatic six-speed transmission it shares with the diesel engine, is 330Nm, while maximum power is 240hp (175kW). In this configuration, Renault Laguna Coupe can accelerate to 100kph in less than seven seconds. Renault Laguna Coupe also naturally benefits from the best engines available for Laguna, in particular the top performing versions of the range’s two-liter petrol and diesel powerplants.

Immersive experience with Microsoft®’s Deep Zoom technology

Friday May 23 saw the inauguration of a bespoke Renault Laguna Coupe website. Building on the success of the Renault Laguna launch in 2007 (inside new laguna), the experience has been carried over for customers who wish to find out more about Laguna Coupe. The www.laguna-coupe.com website has been developed in an exclusive European association with Microsoft®. Thanks to a landmark innovation known as Deep Zoom technology, it has been designed to evolve constantly depending on the latest news to offer an immersive experience at the very heart of this exceptional coupe,.

Renault Laguna Coupe will be shown in greater detail at the forthcoming Paris Motor Show and will be available for international media road tests immediately after that. As the spearhead of the Laguna range, it has been designed to offer sheer driving pleasure and plays a key role in the Renault’s brand’s expansion in the upper-range market. Renault Laguna Coupe epitomizes this savoir-faire when it comes to motoring enjoyment and quality which is built into its genes and which can be seen in the finish which matches even the most demanding standards. Laguna Coupe will be introduced progressively across the Renault sales network from mid-October featuring a long list of luxury equipment.
worldcarfans

I definitely hate the AM rear,not coz it's ugly but u just can't rip a design like that

I don't like it at all. The 3/4 rear is not good-looking, the front is awful, the rear is exagerated. Only the rear lights are superb.

The Concept Fluence looked so beautiful... Too bad!

Word!

^ It's really not that bad looking; one of the most fluid and sleek French designs in an age.

Tell me, does anyone else feel Fiat Coupe in the front 3/4 view?

Not before u mentioned it but now i clearly the resemblance!

C'mon guys, it's not that bad. You can describe it as a unique design.. But anyway.

PS. I just can't understand this new Renault designs. It seems that the Renault desinging team has been heavily drinking

After seeing these new photos i think it's not that good looking, proportions should have been more accurate with the fluence concept.

I have been trying to work out why the proportion of the production car looks a bit different to the concept, and I think I have found the answer. Look at where the door ends in the concept and compare to where the door ends in the production car. The door is much longer in the concept car, you can see it extends well into the side of the car, and the rear quarter window is smaller than that in the production car (ignore the blacked out parts, look at joint between the rear quarter window and the side window in the production car)

As the result of this minor change, the production car doesn’t have the sporty 2 door look of a coupe; it has the proportion of a sedan minus 2 doors and a hatch back. I guess the engineers can’t really shift the B-pillar backwards since it is based on the sedan.

Pics from Paris:





[Source: WCF]

I do...

In fact the front slightly reminds me of FIAT Coupe also.