Renault’s new 100%-electric Mégane E-Tech is the French company’s non-hedged bet it can convince drivers they’ve nothing to lose in swapping their traditional ICE rides for modern a EV – and gain considerable performance, cost, and flair advantages in the bargain. A day test driving the car on the roads of southern Spain suggests the company stands a good chance of winning that wager and setting some standards for European EV development as it does.

Renault is in no way a newcomer to electric vehicles, having sold over 400,000 EVs since the 2012 rollout of its Zoe e-compact. Yet the Mégane E-Tech represents a veritable milestone in several ways. For starters, it’s the first battery-powered vehicle built using the firm’s common module family (CMF) platform, meaning it will inevitably influence later models. And while Renault is adamant the car is positioned to enter Europe’s C-segment at the top of the family hatchback class, its design, spaciousness, and operating chops may well convince some cross-over and the occasional SUV shoppers to reconsider their plans.

Indeed, as Renault staffers acknowledged when asked, the Mégane E-Tech is playing to several kinds of drivers and expectations at once. Conceived to provide the sound, solid, and powerful performance of a German-engineered car – rival Volkswagen ID.4, for example – Renault’s showcase EV is also an unabashed demonstration of French seductive flair. Its innovative design, stylish flourishes, myriad creature comforts, and various features play as much to the eye and heart as its emissions-free, sustainable, efficiently manufactured hardware and tech appeal to pragmatic buyer demands.

And it does so under the name of Renault’s most popular and recognizable Mégane model – but with everything in, on, or about it completely new and different.

Read more: electrek

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