The new Renault Austral better be absolutely awesome. The French company is playing a long and exhausting teaser game, which slowly prepares us for the full and official debut scheduled for March 9. Today there’s another series of teaser photos with the new SUV and this time around, they are showing more of the exterior design.
Don’t get your hopes up top high, though, as these new shots don’t reveal much. It’s basically the same vehicle as the one teased five days into the new year (see the related links below) and it’s still wearing a full-body camouflage foil. In an official press release, Renault design teams explain they are “proud of their designs” but they have to “make their work appear ugly” so that you can’t see the final design just yet.
Gallery: New 2022 Renault Austral Teasers
In fact, the automaker insists that the Austral camouflage is different from any other disguise in the industry. Renault wants to hide the design of the SUV with style and the brand’s lead designer in the design department says the camouflage does its job of hiding the exterior look “at the same time carrying the brand's new visual identity.”
“Why must you hide something beautiful beneath an ugly façade? Why can’t you hide art with art,“ Renault asks. And honestly, this logic makes sense to us. You’ll probably be surprised to hear the camouflage for the new Austral is made of individual pieces of foil, each tailor-made to perfectly fit their respective segments on the body. It’s like a giant puzzle that comes together to hide the design of the Austral from your eyes.
The replacement of the Kadjar will follow a very similar design language to the Megane E-Tech Electric and it will likely be launched as a more upmarket and slightly more expensive alternative to the new Nissan Qashqai. The Austral will be available with traditional combustion engines, though we don’t expect a diesel option in the range.
