On the 4th, the day before Gyeongchip, when frogs are said to awaken, Renault Korea CEO Nicolas Paris invited domestic reporters to Gyeongju and held a large-scale test-drive event. The test-drive vehicle was the ‘Renault Filante’. It is the second model in the ‘Aurora Project’, a new-car development plan the French Renault Group is pursuing to turn the Busan plant of Renault Korea into an export base for non-European markets.

With competition in the European market intensifying by the day due to tougher eco-friendly regulations and the onslaught of cost-competitive Chinese electric vehicles, the importance of overseas markets, including Korea, is growing. Expectations at the group level are inevitably high.

For President Paris, who took the helm of Renault Korea last fall, the Filante is a crucial battleground because it is the first new model unveiled since his appointment. Surpassing the success of the first Aurora Project model, the ‘Grand Koleos’, which launched two years ago and rebounded after a slump in Korea, is also a task. That is how much effort went in. He even chose the test-drive region himself. In his welcome remarks, Paris said, “While reviewing several candidate locations, I was drawn to the charms of Gyeongju, which I visited last November to attend the Asia·Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Forum, and selected it as the final venue”.

‘The design did it all.’

That was the first thought on seeing the Renault Filante while waiting for the drive. Its roof height was tall for a sedan, yet the curves that flow from the roofline to the front end were graceful for an SUV. The company described it as “a midsize crossover that combines the advantages of a sedan and an SUV”. The particularly eye-catching rear features an angular silhouette inspired by a shooting star’s tail (Filante in French means ‘shooting star’). It is a bold design rarely seen on SUVs, yet it blends in without feeling out of place. The front end is imposing, measuring 1890㎜ wide.

‘I cannot wait to drive it.’

It was still a bit chilly for spring, but anticipation quickly warmed the mood. The cabin was as impressive as the exterior. The tidy D-cut steering wheel, the openR panoramic display that stretches from the driver seat to the passenger side, and the sensuous seats that wrap and support the driver’s head and shoulders were all broadly satisfying.

I started the engine and gently pressed the accelerator. It responded nimbly yet smoothly. Careful yet confident progress felt very much like its sleek exterior. I left city streets and merged onto the expressway.

Now it was time to truly engage with the Renault Filante. As I picked up speed, it displayed explosive acceleration. Even so, there was hardly any external noise. Neither the engine note nor the hybrid’s characteristic motor sound was prominent. A Renault Korea representative emphasized, “We applied active noise cancelling across all trims, and thanks to a glass roof made with high-rigidity materials, laminated windows, and sound-absorbing and insulating materials, we were able to maintain quietness”.

Steering feel stood out on winding sections. The body followed the wheel with agility and natural motion. Power was strong enough to crest the twisty uphill Churyeongjae pass with ease. The Renault Filante delivers a maximum output of 250 horsepower and peak torque of 25.5㎏·ｍ.

It filtered out bumps and irregularities in rough pavement well. Frequency-sensitive dampers that detect surface vibrations and adjust damping force in real time make for stable running even at high speeds. With emergency braking assistance applied, it automatically and smoothly braked when I closed in on the vehicle ahead.

The test-drive convoy halted together at a traffic light. I caught sight of another reporter’s vehicle ahead. It was larger than expected. Although its overall length is a long 4915㎜, its low-slung stance gives it the feel of a sleek sedan. The bold design choices that segment peers rarely adopt also play a part. Although it is a midsize crossover, at a glance it does not look especially big.

Interior space is generous. In addition to 320㎜ of kneeroom (legroom), the increased roof height (1635㎜) secures ample headroom (874㎜). Looking up from the second row, the panoramic glass roof delivers an open, airy feel. The glass roof with solar film senses natural light and automatically adjusts transparency to reduce glare for occupants. Renault Korea explained that it can offer heat insulation in summer and warmth retention in winter.

The display that links three 12.3-inch screens from in front of the driver to in front of the passenger offers a wide range of functions from music playback and news search to racing games. For safety, the passenger can view the screen in front of the driver, but the driver is prevented from viewing the passenger screen. While driving, I tried glancing over, but it looked pitch black, with no way to tell what the passenger was watching.

The rearview mirror is fully digital using the rear camera, so it provided a clear rear view even without a rear wiper.

The in-vehicle artificial intelligence (AI) assistant ‘A.Dot Auto’ was somewhat disappointing. Perhaps expectations had risen too high after becoming used to the remarkable responses of generative AI. Beyond simple operations such as checking the weather or opening and closing windows, I found myself asking increasingly complex questions. The more I did, the less satisfying the answers became.

‘The voice assistant will ultimately advance in proportion to the maturity of autonomous driving environment technologies. Until the era of full autonomy arrives, I should focus on driving for now.’

Frustrated, I reached that conclusion. A researcher involved in Filante technology development actually lent support to this analysis. In a Q&A with reporters at the midway stop, he said, “Through large language model training, we are steadily advancing in-vehicle speech recognition performance, but for now, given the special circumstances of driving and the fact that driving safety is the top priority, we intentionally limit answers to within about 80~100 characters”.

The test drive set out from Gyeongju, reached a cafe in Ulsan, and returned on a 140㎞ round-trip course. On arrival at the cafe, fuel economy showed 13.1㎞/ℓ. Considering the varied route that included city streets, mountain roads, expressways, national highways, and curved sections, and that I repeatedly did hard acceleration and hard braking to experience the vehicle’s performance, it was not a bad result. The co-driver who took over at the midway point recorded 15.8㎞/ℓ, exceeding the official figure of 15.1㎞/ℓ. With oil prices fluctuating wildly due to the fallout from the Middle East situation that has raged since the start of the year, this could be a strength for the Filante.

Compared with the outstanding design, the color lineup is rather plain. There are five colors in total, including Satin Universe White, and the overall subdued tones do not seem to fully capture the design’s character.