Frankfurt show: Renault to debut Megane

RENAULT corporate design senior vice president Laurens van den Acker has let slip to Indian media that the next-generation Megane hatchback will break cover at the Frankfurt motor show in September this year.

Indian motoring website indianautosblog.com reported the top designer dropping the news at the reveal of the new Renault Kwid compact crossover in Chennai, India this week, confirming the small Euro hatchback contender will debut at Europe's biggest show.

“The new Megane will be launched in the Frankfurt motorshow,” said Mr van den Acker.

“It's a segment which is hugely competitive because you’re competing against the VW Golf, Peugeot 308, etc.”

No images of the new Megane have yet surfaced, but the publication quotes Mr van den Acker describing the fourth-generation Megane as “a very sexy, very sensual, very attractive sporty looking vehicle with all the new technologies, which will install itself nicely in the line-up.”

The new Megane will continue the evolution of Renault's 'life-cycle' design philosophy initiated by Mr van den Acker, which now influences many of the French car-maker's models.

Its interior will reportedly have a cleaner layout with some push-button functions moved to a central 9.0 inch touchscreen, while cabin comfort is boosted with higher quality materials.

Like other similarly-sized vehicles in the Renault Nissan Alliance, the new Megane will ride on the company's Common Model Family (CMF) platform, in its case the CMF-CD version, which is shared by the Nissan Qashqai, X-Trail and Pulsar.

Since the current model received a 2013 facelift the Megane has sold consistently, moving between 60 and 200 each month.

In the small passenger segment the model has some work to do though. With 416 sold to the end of April this year, the Megane is dwarfed by the likes of Toyota's Corolla with 14,910 registrations, while more similarly priced rivals – the Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus run away with 7054 and 2994 sales respectively.