Ah, France - that last bastion of Euro-centric-ness - no nasty Americanisms - no reruns of Friends. No... Hang on, is that a pickup truck? With a Renault badge?
Yes, it most certainly is and don't look so surprised. Renault has for some time now been sitting at the top of the European sales pile when it comes to vans and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) so it's hardly surprising that it was going to add a pickup at some stage - just look at all those Volkswagen Amaroks rolling around; it's a lucrative market.
Besides, Renault is getting a leg-up from its alliance partner Nissan, which is donating the bones and engines of its new NP300 Navara pickup for Renault to use.
Kicking off the pickup odyssey for Renault is this, the Alaskan concept, which gives us a pretty good idea of what the first Renault pickup will look like, and what it will probably be called.
Renault isn't giving us any tech details as yet, but the Navara comes with a new 2.3-litre turbodiesel engine with either 160- or 190hp and switchable four-wheel drive, as well as a host of safety features so expect all of that to be fitted to production Alaskans too.
It won't be the only Renault-based pickup either. There is already a Dacia-duster based Oroch pickup on sale in South America. In parallel to its product and market offensives, Renault is also launching Renault Pro+, a global expert brand committed to serving LCV customers and users. In addition to providing tailor-made products and services, the specialist Renault Pro+ network will deliver a rewarding experience at every step of the journey for business-user customers, from advertising to aftersales service. "We are now equipped to take our Global Growth Plan forward and fulfil the aspirations of business users and individual LCV customers across the world thanks to an enhanced product line-up, new services and an upgraded customer experience", commented Mr Ashwani Gupta, Vice-President, Global Head of LCVs.
And this is just the second of three pickups to be based on the same platform and engines. Mercedes has its own version waiting in the wings...
Neil Briscoe - 3 Sep 2015