INTERVIEW
Renault hopes its designs last a lifetime
Mark Smyth spoke to Renault’s design boss, Laurens van den Acker
Car designers have a tough job. What they create can make or break not just a model range, but a whole brand. Sometimes they get it wrong, but in the case of Laurens van den Acker and his team, they have definitely got it right. "We are no longer just a French brand," Van den Acker told us at the Paris Motor Show. "We are an international brand with a more universal design image." Six years ago, Van den Acker revealed a design philosophy that follows you through life with the DeZir concept. "We felt we could connect with customers and their lives. The offspring of Dezir is sitting in all the current production models," he says. The next stage of the design strategy is the Trezor concept, shown at the Paris show. "It is not falling in love, but the next stage," he says, perhaps popping the question and getting engaged. "Trezor is full of our new technologies and innovations," he says. However, do not expect it to showcase the car that Renault hopes we will be driving in a few years’ ...
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