Renault showed the Symbioz, a hybrid SUV that fits between the Captur and Austral models

The Symbiosis seems to be a family car that tries to combine the style of an SUV with the practicality of a station wagon. The elongated side silhouette corresponds to this. The exterior design of the novelty is rather conservative, it follows in the footsteps of the brand’s latest models without any major fads.

With a length of 4413 mm, the symbiosis joins the brand’s existing SUVs with internal combustion engines, the smaller Captur and the larger Austral. It rides on the same CMF-B platform used by the captur and clio.

The sliding rear bench increases the load space from 492 liters to an impressive 624 litres, and Renault claims there is 24.7 liters of storage space inside the cabin, including seven liters in the glove box.

Photo: Renault

You can choose the same Solarbay glass roof as the electric Scenic E-Tech. Thanks to the absence of a conventional blind, it increases the interior clearance by 30 mm. The transmission is muted either by pressing a switch or by voice command using the standard Google Assistant technology built into the 10.4-inch vertical touchscreen that dominates the dashboard with its vertical placement.

Renault mentions the only available motorization E-Tech 145, i.e. a full-hybrid device. A system output of 107 kW, 145 hp is provided by a combination of a 1.6-liter (69 kW) four-cylinder gasoline engine, a pair of electric motors (36 kW e-motor and 18 kW starter-generator) and a 1.2 kWh battery. It uses a multi-mode automatic transmission with four gears for the combustion engine and two for the main electric motor.

Sales of the new product will start in June. The first cars will appear at Czech dealers in September of this year for an as yet unannounced price.