Geneva show: Better cabins take back seat at Renault

FRENCH car brand Renault is often criticised for its interiors, but the company says it will concentrate on exterior styling before addressing interior quality and ambience.

Renault senior vice-president of design, Laurens van den Acker, described the need to get people into showrooms through attractive exterior styling as designing a “one-night stand”.

“We need to design a one-night stand to get people to come in and then we need to design a marriage to make sure that they stay – that is how I see interior and exterior.” he said.

“The exterior has to seduce and the interior is where you live and you want it to be a good quality life.”

Mr Van den Acker admitted that although the new Clio and Captur interiors were more fun, colourful and customisable, they were still only “OK”.

“I think we have a long way to go in terms of perceived quality and choice of materials … if you compare us directly with a (Ford) Fiesta or (Volkswagen) Polo or an (Opel) Corsa we are in the mix but we don’t stand out.”

He said it was pointless trying to sell the idea of quality to customers as it was primarily styling that drew them into dealerships to try the cars for themselves, therefore making perceived quality a low priority.

The strategy appears to be paying off, as Mr Van den Acker said the new designs were causing “more people to look at us”.

“Frankly, the goal was to make people fall in love again with the Renault brand because there was the sensation that people had fallen out of love with Renault,” he said.