Renault Morphoz – The electric future crossover concept
In the press release, Renault talks about Marty Mcfly in the popular movie Back to the future and jetpacks to transport ourselves. Imagination vs reality regarding future. With the Morphoz, Renault is imagining what transport will be in 5 years. And if this car has anything to do with the future design of Renault, I am all for it.
The car is supposed to be more than a car. By making the Morphoz electric, it can be used to power electronic machinery in the house. Renault took it one step further and wrote “They can also be stored in a charging station for use in other vehicles, or else supply equipment such as self-service cycle recharging stations and street lighting. It’s a simple enough plan: the more we share batteries, the fewer we need to produce, and the more we can reduce our carbon footprint.” Sure, a nice plan, but I don’t think that people will share their electricity they paid themselves to charge up at home. However, Renaults also writes about challenging the idea that a car is private, and I have to agree with them. To reach goals, steps need to be taken, both big and small. In some ways it is what already exist on the road, but in smaller scale. Car sharing companies such as Sunfleet in Sweden.
Renault knows how to make striking concept cars, and the Morphoz is a perfect example. The car still has some details present in today´s Renault models. Take the rear lights for example are reminds of a Mégane. The L shaped top part of the front lights can be found in the majority of new generation Renaults. Here is where the similarities stop, and where Renault has shown that they can create a stylish as well as luxurious. The size of 4.4 m (city mode) or 4.8 m (travel mode) combined with a squarish shape goes against a lot that Renault stands for with their current design language. It should be noted that as Renault has the goal set to become the premiere car brand from France with a focus on sustainable mobility. However, as Peugeot has done a massive step in both interior and exterior design, the pressure on Renault is on. If the design language from the Morphoz trickled down to regular Renault models, I believe that Renault will gain the edge.
The car will have a range of 400 km in city mode (40 kWh battery), but if you go for travel mode, you get 700 km of range from a changeable battery with 50 kWh. This makes it possible to adapt the battery for the length of the drive you are taking. The interior is as modern and striking as anything could be. Floating yellow seats that can be turned 180 degrees. Half of the entire center console is covered in screens.
Is the Morphoz the way of the future? Probably not, but Renault has shown their way of thinking and I do hope that the design becomes reality.
