From the outside, it looks like a generously proportioned grand tourer, an assembly of broad geometrical surfaces. The real message of the Talisman, Renault’s latest concept car, is to be sought elsewhere: in the cabin that is a Touch Design manifesto.
Touch Design is Renault’s new design philosophy that is going to dictate the appearance of all Renault car interiors from now on.
Touch Design emerged from an observation by Patrick Le Quément, director of Design Industriel Renault: technology has made our daily lives ever more complicated. Now we need to simplify things with the aid of a less stressful, more human approach.
Inside the Talisman, the designers have created activity areas in which every element fits perfectly into the hand, proclaims its function at first glance and positively invites interaction. Here, form suggests rather than follows function. This is ergonomics sublimated in which action merely confirms intuition and materials feel as attractive as they look.
The four-seater cabin is a poem to emptiness and lightness. The leaf-thin immobile seats consist of a slender carbon frame covered in a sheet of folded leather that extends into the floor to create a seamless surface. The seats appear suspended in space, as does the dashboard which moves towards the driver, bringing the steering wheel and pedal board with it. The secondary controls are no more than simple depressions in the soft leather that covers the central tunnel and they respond sweetly to the gentlest of touches.
The first production model to adopt elements of Touch Design will be the new generation Mégane. After that, all new Renaults will be totally Touch Design.
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 130
