Renault opens up new paths with Initiale Paris concept car

Renault at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show is fully expressing its intention to carve out its rightful place in the premium segment. By revealing Initiale Paris, the concept car in the design strategy initiated by Laurens van den Acker, Renault opens up new paths.
Initiale Paris, a nod to the Eiffel Tower and the Grand Palais, is a large car, at 4.85 m long. Prestigious but without excess, the new concept car promises impressive spaciousness on board. The structural composition brings to mind the frame of an aeroplane, but also gives a nod to the Eiffel Tower and the Grand Palais, emblematic Parisian monuments, the capital of French-style elegance.
The most formal homage to Paris is made by the concept car’s highly original aluminum and plexiglass roof. Milled directly out of the main body, it depicts a map of Paris - solid and transparent - showing the city’s districts and arteries and the River Seine.
The technical feat, with its spectacular aesthetic result, gives meaning to the new Initiale Paris signature in particular and to Renault in general, since it was on the banks of the Seine that Renault’s industrial adventure began. And what city better than Paris embodies French joie de vivre and refinement or luxury in the eyes of the world?
The flowing and contemporary body styling of the Initiale Paris concept car is inspired by the worlds of architecture and aeronautics, two fields in which the generally mutually-exclusive qualities of robustness and lightness come together.
The harmony between robustness and lightness is showcased further by the repetition of a strong graphic design on several parts of the vehicle. The motif, made out of an assembly of diamond shapes, shares the spirit and design of a bee hive. It features on the exterior of the grille, the wheels, and the sides of the vehicle. Linking exterior and interior, it also figures on the floor section where the rear-hinged doors open.
The concept car body is cloaked in an amethyst color that shifts from deep metallic black to luminous plum violet as the light and viewpoint change. The body paint plays with shifting reflections much as a jewelry setting showcases the gem it holds. The letter “I” for Initiale Paris adorns the vehicle sides and wheels.
The full-LED lights give the Initiale Paris concept car a strong light signature. At the front, the daytime running lights enclose each headlamp in parentheses. A built-in mechanism causes an eyelid-like blink in the light. At the rear, the lights are harmoniously positioned in relation to the horizontal and vertical lines of the car through their size and artful proportions. Rearward vision is ensured by ultra-slim, profiled cameras that serve as exterior mirrors. Each exterior detail evokes and fosters movement.
Initiale Paris is the ultimate new born concept-car from the Renault range, which is showcased at the Frankfurt motor-show.