Laurens Van Den Acker: "The far future is easier to predict than what’s going to happen next year" 

We know that we’re going to drive EVs in the long run, but as to 2026, I have no idea. Politics are short-term and changing all the time. The future is easier to predict than what’s going to happen next year. Every serious research paper says access to mobility – not public transport, but by subscription or app – will be a business worth billions of Euros. But how we get there is a big question. That’s the theory behind our Mobilize project but because it’s a new business, it’s a little bit like throwing spaghetti against a wall and seeing what actually sticks. 

Early in my career at Renault, senior management asked me to define the brand better because it was completely dispersed. We had the Modus, the Latitude and some awkward car designs. From the Twingo city car to the Master large van, customers needed to recognise us, so we created a strong identity with a big Renault logo and C-shaped headlights. Now – in the context of increased competition and a search for authenticity – we have the ‘future icons’ and ‘legendary icons’ strategy. The latter are the 4, 5 and Twingo, and the future icons are the Clio, Megane, Scenic and the Rafale. 

There’s something interesting about French cars. A friend of mine described them as “very warm and Latin”. A good French car is one you see on the side of the road, and makes you want to drop everything, get in and drive to France. This is not scientific, but I believe if somebody buys a French car, they like the French culture, country and lifestyle too. 

I don’t look at Alpine as a luxury brand. It’s more of a sports premium brand, but it’s definitely in a market that is interesting from a profitability point of view. When we talked to people from Louis Vuitton, they said brands need to have an authentic story in history and Alpine does. At the same time, we’re also doing the Renault 5 Turbo 3E, which costs €155,000-plus and we’ve sold more than 1000 in a few months. We looked at the most expensive used Renault vehicle and it was the early 1980s R5 Turbo. They cost €80,000- 100,000 now because they have a Je ne sais quoi [an intangible appeal] that’s attractive. Obviously, the model has history and is authentic too, so it ticks the boxes.

The reason we haven’t done many concepts in the last few years is because the company was in a place where it couldn’t make promises but needed to prove it had a reason to exist. The production Twingo will be the next example. But if we can create a good balance, I would love to do a ‘balls-out crazy’ and gorgeous concept statement too, just for the hell of it. 

What’s difficult about reinventing cars like the Twingo is that everyone has a romantic idea about the things they remember about it. And that’s what we need to grab, not the real thing. You remember its ‘eyes’, the monospace silhouette, the cool proportions and sliding bench, that’s what we managed to capture. If you put the new Twingo next to the first 1990s one, there’s not a surface that’s the same. The new one looks like a bonbon [a French sweet] you just want to wrap up and cuddle.

We were used to doing cars in four years, but the Twingo took two years and the Dacia version 16 months. We hear in China they’re doing cars quicker still. You can suggest that nobody wants this, but if you can do speed with quality, you will have a competitive advantage. 

To give an older example: we created a touchscreen for the 2012 Clio but decided what it would be like in 2009. By the time the production car came out Apple had already released two new smartphones, and we were late. Or to give a more recent example: a guy in my team who wanted to work on some concepts said: “Can you give me eight designers to develop my designs?” And I said, “No, do it on your own and use AI.” He did, and all of a sudden, he’s turned out all these great ideas. You still need an art director to choose though, because if you do something bad, it gets really bad. But if you do something good, it can become very good. It’s just another tool for us, but it helps us go fast. Design used to be five different disciplines. Today it is 20 and tomorrow it could be 50. So I’m looking for designers that have an expertise but that can also be versatile.

This interview was originally published in Car Design Review 12. To order your copy, please click here.