We knew it was going to debut this week and Renault has not disappointed us. The all-new Koleos is one of the few Beijing debuts that isn't just for China. Not only that, but it deserves to be treated as the flagship of the range, the crowning jewel of the French car industry (ignoring Bugatti, of course).
Explaining why the Koleos is more special than the Talisman sedan is tricky. But after you've spent a few minutes looking at it from every angle, you realize that this SUV has a solidity about it that no other Renault has ever boasted. The interior also makes the Captur and Kadjar look like they were designed by Dacia.
We already published a detailed preview of the Koleos II a few hours ago, so we're not going to run you through all the technical details again. Instead, let's just focus on what we see in these first live photos and the official videos published by Renault.
The XC90 didn't actually feature any new design element we hadn't seen before, but it somehow achieved the maximum potential of what Volvo could do, from the cool shape of the headlights to the dashboard and clever air filtration system. The same goes here. The headlights, dash and the quality of the leather is similar to what the Talisman offers, but it's slightly better as well.
Renault is telling us absolutely nothing relevant about the engines and there's even mention of a CVT automatic that makes us cringe. However, that could just be for the Asian market, as the Samsung SM6 for Korea also boasts inferior powertrains to the Talisman it copies.
As kind as we've dried to be to Renault's flagship, we can't help but notice how the Chinese copycat way has rubbed off on them. As you can see from the photo above, the dashboards of the Koleos and XC90 are too close for comfort.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News