Disappeared from the market thirty years ago today, the Renault 25 still hides a few secrets in design studies, some of which are resurfacing today. A look back at the origins of Renault’s first modern grand tourer.
Thirty years ago, in 1992, the Renault 25 left the market after driving Renault’s return to the “French top-of-the-range”. This incursion continued with the Safrane, the Vel Satis, the Latitude and then the Talisman, which just bowed out at the end of February. Far from being perpetuated through a stylistically homogeneous lineage, the large E-segment sedan has taken many forms at the diamond brand. Aesthetic experimentations dating back to the design of the R25 under the codenames X29 and 129.
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French touch
When they set out to compete with the Germans, the Italians or the British on their respective favorite fields, French manufacturers have always been keen to offer an atypical alternative rather than following market codes. The very recent Citroën C5 X is a new example. For the R25, Renault wanted to reconcile the statutory look and the comfort of large sedans. with the practicality that characterized its most popular cars. This is how the R25 received a tailgate. This element was further enhanced by a convex bezel designed by Robert Opron, a designer also known for his previous work at Citroën. Today, many manufacturers would present the R25 as a “five-door coupé”.
But classic four-door configurations were studied by the design team which also included Gaston Juchet, Jacques Nocher and Jean-François Venet. Without forgetting the improbable model of architectural inspiration signed Mario Bellini. The studies had singular names, such as Bic-Aero Where Gust.
An atypical silhouette
The “fastback” profile quickly imposed itself for the Renault 25, as much for its stylistic originality as for its aerodynamic qualities, synonymous with low fuel consumption.
At the end of the 1970s, the oil crisis was still on everyone’s mind. Nevertheless, the studies of the roundest silhouettes, which visually made the car more compact, were discarded to preserve some edges, particularly at the level of the lights and the shields.
This did not prevent the standard Renault 25 from displaying an excellent air penetration coefficient of 0.30, and even 0.28 in the TS version.
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Thirty years later, a stylistic heritage
As for the interior layout of the Renault 25, and more particularly its dashboard, firmly anchored in its time by its style and particular ergonomics, its drawing supervised by Marcello Gandini evolved little between the beginning and the end of the car’s development, according to known records.
Note, however, that before adopting the horizontal two-storey design that we know, an L-shaped configuration was considered. However, this is reminiscent of the OpenR double slab just inaugurated by the Mégane E-Tech Electric, combining a combined digital instrumentation and central touch screen. Nothing is lost, everything is transformed.
