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«The shame of building and showing cars». This is how the mood of the 2023 edition of Iaa (5 – 10 September) can be summarized, the Munich “mobility” exhibition which for two years has taken the place of the legendary (but defunct) Frankfurt motor show. In fact, among the stands of this event, more similar to a fair of components and digital solutions, the automobile (even if there was no shortage of novelties) was out of the brightest spotlight, almost as if to reiterate the equation «car = mobility”. But this is not the case, the car can (also) be a mobility device (according to a definition that the marketing offices of the companies really like), but it is something more: design, innovation, engineering art and the pleasure or gratification of using a beautiful object or simply belonging to a cool brand (read Tesla, for example).
But let’s go back to the news from Monaco where the new Renault Scénic stands out. Model with an almost iconic name that is reborn under the guise of no longer a minivan but a totally electric crossover. It is positioned higher than the Mégane E-Tech with which it shares the Cmf-Ev platform, some sheet metal, dashboard and infotainment (based on Android and also in common with the hybrids Austral, Espace and Rafale). The car with its 4.47 meters is 10 cm longer than the Mégane in length and its zero-emission family car vocation is confirmed by the 545 liters of luggage. Two versions with a combined 125 kW (170 hp) and 160 kW (220 hp) engine and two battery sizes, 60 kWh which guarantees 420 km and 87 kWh which allows you to travel up to 620 km. The intriguing Solarbay panoramic glass roof which darkens and lightens with electronic control.
The new electric proposal from the French company aims to compete both with the much longer Tesla Model Y (471 cm) with the BEVs based on the Meb platform of the VW group as well as with those of Stellantis created on the new STLA Medium architecture, starting from the new Peugeot 3008.
The renewed Model 3 debuted at a micro stand at Iaa 2023, which to tell the truth had appeared a few days earlier in a secret cult event with creators and influencers organized in true Tesla style. The car changes little six years after its first appearance, but it becomes much younger thanks to clever, industrially inexpensive tweaks (here too we can see the genius of Musk’s team).
The new front with renewed light clusters improves aerodynamics and efficiency but above all normalizes the lines which are now more pleasant and less awkward in its frontal expression. In the interior, the levers on the column have been eliminated and now the transmission is also controlled, questionably, from the touch display.