Ah, the Renault Avantime. A car that when it was released in 2001 looked
like it’d just come through a time portal from 2050. And movie companies agreed, with the car being
featured in many near future dystopian films like “Children of Men” and “Ready Player
One”. The name “Avantime” is a portmanteau,
that is a smashing together of the French word “avant” meaning “before” or “ahead”
and the English word “time”. So like its name, was the Avantime just ahead
of its time? Or was it a nice idea, but an automotive dead
end? This is the Renault Avantime Story. (music) The Avantime story can’t be told without a company called Matra, the name being derived
from “Mécanique Aviation TRAction”. They were founded just after the Second World
War with the goal of making aircraft engines. By the 1960s they had moved into the nascent
satellite market. By the 1970s the company was a full-fledged
aerospace supplier, but it also dipped its toes into things as diverse as music distribution,
a personal computer, electric bicycles, a small sailboat and a rapid transit system! Matra had also looked at making cars. In 1963 they purchased sports car maker “Automobiles
René Bonnet” which became “Matra Automobiles”. Despite selling 60,000 cars a year, Matra
realised that they couldn’t go it alone, so in the 1970s they entered a partnership
with Chrysler’s European division. In 1981 the French socialist Government decided
to nationalise all defence companies. A large part of Matra was still in the defence
industry so the company was split up. The new smaller company found itself in a
period of transition. The old sports car business wasn’t fairing
well, and they were already trying to diversify with cars such as the 1977 Matro Rancho that
was based on Chrysler’s Simca 1100. The US division of Chrysler started looking
at a minivan concept in 1977 and it probably wasn’t a coincidence that Chrysler’s European
team started working on a similar idea around the same time. With Matra working closely with Chrysler,
and needing a new car to build, it’s not surprising that they decided to produce their
own minivan. But although Chrysler’s European arm was
now owned by Peugeot owners PSA, Matra eventually worked out a deal with rival Renault to release
the vehicle that would go on to be known as the Renault Espace. The Espace was a gamble but was an easy deal
for Renault to take. If the car didn’t sell, then Matra took
the risk, but if it did sell then Renault would take a piece of the profits. The car was an almost instant hit. Launched the same year as the North American
Chrysler Minivan that also sold well, the Espace would kick start the European MPV boom. This was great news for Matra who’s finances
came to increasingly rely on the Espace as sales increased into the 1990s. This sets the scene for the decision over
the Avantime. It’s the late 1990s and Renault’s looking
to design the 4th generation Espace. MPVs sales were accelerating, and companies
like Renault were already building mini-MPVs like the Renault Scénic. A large chunk of revenue from the increasingly
popular Espace was ending up in Matra’s bank account. So, Renault decided the 4th generation Espace
would be produced by Renault themselves, leaving Matra with nothing. It’s unclear if Matra were already looking
for a second model, or if they cooked up the Avantime to replace the Espace. Regardless, it was the brainchild of Philippe
Guédon, head of Matra’s vehicle division. The reasoning behind the Avantime was that
Espace owners had bought the car to hold their gaggle of children and stuff. By the late 1990s those kids had grown up,
but mum and dad still liked the idea of the Espace but wanted something similar that would
fit their new lifestyle. Renault were open to the concept. In 1998 they signed an agreement to explore
the vehicle concept and Renault stylist Patrick Le Quément was brought in to give the car
some flair, along with a Renault corporate look. You may remember Patrick from his involvement
in the Ford Sierra in the 1980s and his fall from favour due to the Sierra’s lack of
success. Since then he’d moved on to Renault, and
in fact, Patrick had driven a hard deal when he made the move. The design team would no longer answer to
the manufacturing team, and Patrick would report directly to the CEO. Patrick wanted
Renault to become a design-led company and the CEO felt that this would rekindle Renault’s
fortunes after a series of bland, uninspiring cars. Renault and Matra had to decide what the empty
nester families would want from their new grown-up Espace. The MPV had always been known for its acres
of glass, so the car should have excellent visibility. It needed space, but only for four people
and those rear seats would only get occasional use, so why not just go with two front doors? What Renault and Matra found themselves designing
was a sort of MPV grand tourer for the 21st century. The designers were soon calling their creation
a “Coupéspace”, again smashing the words “Coupé” and “Espace” together. And with it pitched at high earning empty
nesters, Renault felt they could take it up market. They might even take some market share back
from those German car companies who were ruling the large luxury car market. Confidence was running high in the team. They’d created a new category once before
with the Espace, a sort of luxury small minivan with much more practicality. Could lightning strike in the same place twice? Taking the coupé theme, and lots of glass,
Renault decided to remove the “B” pillar. That is the pillar that normally goes between
the front and rear doors. By removing it, with all the windows down,
and with a panoramic moon roof – the widest ever made at the time, the car became almost
a convertible. And the higher driving position gave occupants
a feeling of security. The Avantime was given additional luxury features
such as leather seats, a good looking dashboard, windows featuring electric sunshades, and
a one touch control that would open all the windows and sunroof to give it that convertible
feel. The designers would also experiment with new
materials. Cars were getting steadily heavier in the
1990s as new interior gadgets and safety features such as air bags and more complex crash structures
were added. More efficient engines could only get you
so far in offsetting that weight. So, Renault, like other car companies looked
to new materials to make the car lighter. The top half of the Avantime would be made
from aluminium. And the doors would be a composite material. But the lower half of the car would be pure
third generation Espace, and in fact, 50% of the car was made up of Espace parts. The exterior would be a bold styling statement. According to design project manager Thierry
Metroz, they wanted someone walking around the car to be continually astonished. The front surprises you, then you move to
the rear and you get another surprise with the rear bustle. They were intending to shock – to create
a bold, innovative automotive statement that would be fun to drive. It was a car that brought the outside inside,
with a wall of heat-reflecting glass. The rear seats would be slightly higher than
the front seats, giving theatre-like seating and adding to the drama. Four doors were tried, but the designers settled
on making it a two-door. To make it easier to get into the rear those
doors were longer, and when the front seats folded forward the rear windows automatically
lowered. But those big doors would make entry difficult
for front passengers in a tight supermarket car park, so the light composite doors would
both hinge out and forward in a unique system to allow for easier access. The car was launched as a concept in 1999,
and there was a lot of interest. The exterior styling followed the avantgarde
concepts of the upcoming Renault Vel Satis. It had some wonderful styling details, such
as the elegant rear light pattern. The rear bustle would become a styling cue
for cars to come, such as the 2002 Mégane and 2003 Scénic. Competing car companies would keep close tabs
on this new car to see if they had to react to its success. And the interior was as innovative as the
exterior, with a pop-out GPS system by Pioneer, individual rear seats that had their own screen
to play the latest DVDs, plus a mini-bar between the seats to keep a perfectly refrigerated
bottle of wine. After all, this was France and you’ve got
to get your priorities straight! But like the Fiat Multipla and Pontiac Aztek,
released around the same time, this was a car that split opinion. The design team, Renault and Matra knew they
were taking a risk, but sometimes you need to bet big to win big, and a bland car that
follows the competition wasn’t going to replace the big hole in revenue Matra faced
by losing Espace production. The Avantime was slated for a summer 2000
release, but pre-production issues such as a flexing roof would delay the launch until
2001, and this would give it the nickname "Aftertime"! It would be released around the same time
as the Vel Satis, causing some confusion in customers minds as they were cars aimed at
the same type of customer. That wall of glass created an open cockpit,
but the same couldn’t be said for rear visibility. Having only two doors very likely hurt sales
for an older target market who knew that their days of leaping deftly from the rear seat
of a two door car were long gone. But one area where Renault and Matra excelled
was the suspension. They worked hard to give this tall car excellent
handling, and it got high marks from reviewers for holding its own through the bends. But for a car that was supposed to be high
end, there were some worrying fit and finish issues inside and cheap feeling plastic. And the windows would shake if the door was
closed too hard on early models because of the lack of a “B” pillar. Renault got to work to clear up any problems,
but not before this hurt initial impressions and sales. The car launched with a single engine – a
powerful 210hp 3.0L V6, giving it more than enough power. But France was a country that loved its diesels
and it would take until the following year until a 2.2L diesel was added to the mix,
along with a more frugal 165hp 2.0L petrol engine which had the unfortunate short title
as the F4Rt engine, which to my eyes looks a little bit rude. Yes, I might look like a fully grown adult,
but I have the mind of a puerile 8 year old! The press gushed over Renault’s daring automotive
statement. There are very few cars that Clarkson, Hammond
and May agree is excellent, and the Avantime was one of them. But despite all the good press, sales were
disappointing. Maybe it was the fit and finish issues, maybe
it was the striking design that the conservative middle-aged customers just didn’t get, maybe
it was the confusion with the Vel Satis. Whatever the reason, Renault and Matra sold
only 8,557 Avantime’s in the first 18 months. Matra had spent big in its quest to create
a hit car, both on design and in ramping up production. They were used to the income from the Espace,
which had sold over 60,000 cars a year. By 2003 the losses from the Avantime became
too much and Matra filed for bankruptcy. Production ended and the Avantime was no more. Ten years after the Avantime was launched,
Renault held a reunion for Avantime owners. It’s a testament to the passion for the
Avantime that over 200 turned up to celebrate this unique car, from as far afield as Serbia
and the UK. The Avantime obviously spoke to a certain
customer who wanted something a little different and appreciated what Renault and Matra were
trying to achieve. And it’s a testament to the team who built
it that they loved the car so much some of them also turned up to celebrate it. Its head designer, Patrick Le Quément has
said the Avantime was the most important car he’d ever worked on. There’s a temptation to call the Avantime,
like its name, ahead of its time, and that it presaged the crossover boom in the 2010s. But beyond cars that sat higher, which you
could argue was introduced by the Renault Espace in the 1980s, few of the Avantime’s
features have made it to modern cars. Large family cars with only two doors went
the way of the dodo in the 1970s, and the Avantime didn’t help them stage a comeback. But one thing you can’t say about the car
was it was mediocre. And after all these years it still looks fresh,
with innovative features. As the project design lead said at the ten
year anniversary, “It’s like a couture dress. Everyone likes it, but no one is actually
ready to wear it.” Maybe there’s something in that, maybe it
was a car that was never going to catch on, but it’s a wonderfully unique and original
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