CARS OF THE WORLD

Renault Scenic 2024.

New Renault Scenic — crossover instead of compact van, electric motors instead of internal combustion engine.

The waning popularity of the Renault Scenic will survive, but it will change format. A new generation is expected in 2024.

The Scenic is one of the founding members of the compact van class which, during the decade before last, accounted for over 300,000 units per year in Europe and was one of Renault’s sales drivers.

As consumer focus shifted from compactvans to crossovers, demand for the Scenic began to drop.

The Scenic sold 76,045 units in Europe in pre-2019, according to CarSalesBase, demand dropped to 36,592 units in 2020, and 20,678 units in 2021.

Many competitors have already died in the fight against crossovers, and those who have survived are not doing so well: Volkswagen Touran sold 30,543 units in Europe last year, Citroen C4 Spacetourer — 16,826 units.

The current fourth-generation Renault Scenic has been available since 2016 in 5-seat and 7-seat versions (the 7-seat carries the prefix Grand) and has not yet earned a restyling, and from some markets (such as the UK) Scenic is already gone.

Last year a new «heel» Renault Kangoo debuted, the passenger version of which is addressed to fans of single-volume cars, and Scenic, according to the British magazine Auto Express, will return in 2024 in the format of a compact electric crossover.

Last week, Renault unveiled an updated plan for upcoming launches: three electric models are announced for 2024, one of which, it turns out, will be the new Scenic.

According to our British colleagues, the «fifth» Scenic will be based on the CMF-EV platform from the already announced Megane E-Tech Electric compact electric hatchback.

There are no plans for a long-wheelbase 7-seat version due to the platform layout limitations, but it cannot be ruled out in the future, i.e. on the next generation platform.

The main competitor of the new Scenic on the European market will be a Volkswagen ID.4 crossover.

The French SUV will be offered in single-engine or twin-engine (all-wheel drive) versions and with several batteries to choose from, but there are no plans for a «hot» Alpine-branded version that could compete with the VW ID.4 GTX.

In Alpine’s lineup so far, only one coupe-like crossover GT X-Over is announced, which is also expected to premiere in 2024, and the Scenic will get a more angular and practical body with a high ceiling in the second row and a large trunk, which means owners of compact vans of past generations should be happy.

From the Russian market Renault Scenic left back in 2015, and whether we will have a new electric Scenic, it is still unknown — the future of the Russian car market in the light of recent geopolitical news in general looks very vague.