Dramatic new Renault Coupe Corbusier concept revealed

A bold new Renault concept car has been created to celebrate 50 years since the death of France’s best-known 20th century architect Le Corbusier.

Renault insists the Coupé Corbusier concept car has no direct relevance to any future project, instead saying that “future-looking” concepts such as this allow its designers “to explore new ways forward and offering creative staff more leisurely moments”.

The concept is a long, sleek coupé with a long bonnet, slim glasshouse, pronounced rear aches, and dramatic dihedral doors hinged at the rear. Geometric shapes make up the front-end design, and also graphics in the side profile. No powertain has been outlined by Renault; nor have any dimensions or any other specific details.

Renault describes the concept as “a 21st century car inspired by the architect’s modernist principles and theories”. Le Corbusier’s work is described by Renault as “as a conceptual prequel to the modern automobile”.

On the concept, Renault added: “The ideas of simplicity, a visually- and aesthetically-pleasing structure, geometric elegance and mastery of light guided the designers in the creation of the Coupé Corbusier concept car.

“The design teams at Groupe Renault are proud to pay homage to the visionary architect and designer who reinvented architecture and made it more broadly accessible to the public. His thought and value structure is one that we share at Renault.”

The concept is on display at Villa Savoye, a modernist villa on the outskirts of Paris. To commemorate 50 years since Le Corbusier’s death, France’s Centre des Monuments Nationaux, a government body that manages and maintains historic buildings and sites owned by the state, is putting on an exhibition at Villa Savoye called ‘Cars for living: the automobile and modernism in the 20th and 21st centuries’.

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