Laurens Van Den Acker, EVP, Corporate Design, Groupe Renault, had designed his own pair of sneakers, with a famous French brand Le Coq Sportif, that he has colour-coordinated to match the Renault Triber’s launch. “It’s a fun thing. Just enjoying myself doing sneakers,” he says, in conversation with THE WEEK about the design of their latest Triber.
The paint job on the Renault Triber looks fabulous. Tell us about the this new product
This is a very special colour inspired by Indian spices. It’s called honey yellow, a very rich metallic colour which makes the surface come to life. When you make a vehicle that is so spacious inside, you end up with a box outside. The key was: Can we not make it look like a box? Can we give it toughness? Can we give it SUV cues? Can we give it shoulders? Eventhough it is very spacious inside, I think we managed.
Renault cars are known for their rigidity and suspension, among other things. What extra has gone into Triber as compared to what is already on offer?
What makes it very special is that there is no competitor in the seven-seater [segment] in the sub-four metre [category]. We didn’t stop there. Inside, you’ll see that, near the instrument panel, we have two very large storage spaces, including the centre of the console, which is also cooled. We have air vents through the back, and we have storage in the third row. Frankly, it is really made for hot climate, and people who choose to bring a lot of stuff.
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The seats are very good. Not too hard, not too soft, you’ve also used fabric and not opted for leather
The key is a combination between comfort and good seating support because you need to be held in your place. We tried to make them very thin. This is good for two reasons—for visibility in the rear and the front. It is also good for the usage of space. If we can make them thin, you have a lot more room for your legs. If we make them thin, but we choose the right amount of foam, and also shape the seats around you, then they can become a lot thinner. Thinner doesn’t mean less comfort, you know. It’s just holding you better in your seat.
There is a lot of cladding on the inside and it gives the impression of being very safe and secure. Could you please tell us about that?
I think we all know that the roads in India, being what they are, people love a high driving position, people love high ground clearance. So, it is both robust in appearance and robust from a features point of view. It also gives the car a much tougher stand, and it brings it in an SUV sphere, where we want to put it. We also put in roof bars which are quite nice. The black gives a tough image and we managed to use the roof bars to hide the little bump in the roof that we have, which is there to create more headroom for the rear passengers and room for the vents.
What is your favourite design flourish in the car?
To be honest, I think the interior is a miracle. To have such a flexible, ultra-modular interior in a four-metre package is really a bit of a Leonardo Da Vinci, you know.
Everybody is going in for the darker, black alloys, you have stuck to a subtle silver
We want to create a chic appearance for the car. Later, we can do other versions, where we have other colours and limited series. But to start off, we want to highlight the richness of the car and I think, the [black] alloys might not fully show what they’re made of.
Is there any other colour that you’re really excited about?
In terms of colours we have a very beautiful red, we will have a blue, a white and a silver, some of the classic colours that you see a lot, but I really hope that we’re going to see the honey yellow on the streets a lot here. So many cars are white in India, I think it is time for a little bit of colour.
What’s next for India?
We have something in our pocket, but it is too early to talk about it.