Category Archives: NEW CARS

NEW CARS

2026 Renault Filante: The French Brand’s Big Swing at the Premium SUV Class

Renault has never been shy about ambition, but it has often been cautious about where—and how—it spends it. That’s changing. With the Filante, a large, luxe SUV aimed squarely at the Volvo XC90 and Audi Q7 crowd, Renault is making a deliberate, unapologetic return to the fully fledged premium arena. Not in Europe, mind you—but everywhere else that still buys big, expensive SUVs in meaningful numbers.

The Filante is more than just a new nameplate. It’s a statement piece, a flagship designed to anchor Renault’s expanding international lineup and signal that the brand is done playing only in the value and mainstream lanes outside Europe. If the Clio pays the bills at home, the Filante is meant to raise eyebrows—and margins—abroad.

A Global Pivot, Not a European Encore

This move is part of Renault’s so-called “International Game Plan,” a €3 billion investment strategy focused on key non-European markets. The company has already been laying groundwork with products like the Kardian supermini and Boreal crossover in Latin America, the Grand Koleos in South Korea, and region-specific versions of the Duster for Turkey and India. The Filante sits at the top of that pyramid.

The thinking is straightforward. Europe is crowded, regulated, and increasingly hostile to profitable growth. Elsewhere—particularly in markets like South Korea and the Middle East—buyers still want size, comfort, and status. Renault CEO Fabrice Cambolive calls the strategy an “upgrade” of the brand’s global product mix: fewer cheap cars, more valuable ones, and a higher revenue per unit to match.

South Korea is the Filante’s launch pad, and the numbers explain why. Roughly 60 percent of the market there lives in the D-, E-, and F-segments, a stark contrast to Europe’s C-segment obsession. Renault is already the third-largest brand in Korea, but it’s operating in the shadow of Hyundai and Kia, which together command a staggering 90 percent share. To grow, Renault needs to move upmarket—and stand out.

Big, Plush, and Purpose-Built

At just under five meters long and nearly 1.9 meters wide, the Filante is the largest Renault-branded vehicle in production. It’s closer in footprint to a Genesis GV80 than anything wearing a Renault badge in Europe, and that’s very much the point. Lexus RX and BMW X5 buyers in the Middle East are also firmly in its crosshairs.

Underneath the bespoke sheetmetal, the Filante is closely related to the Grand Koleos already sold in Korea, developed in partnership with Geely. It rides on the Chinese conglomerate’s CMA platform—the same architecture underpinning the Volvo XC40 and Polestar 2—and that’s no bad thing. CMA is stiff, modern, and proven.

Power comes from a Geely-engineered full-hybrid system, wearing Renault’s familiar E-Tech badge. The setup pairs a 1.5-liter gasoline engine with an integrated starter-generator, an electric motor, and a modest 1.6-kWh battery. Combined output stands at 247 horsepower and a hefty 417 lb-ft of torque, with calibration tweaks aimed at smoothing responses and dialing up refinement to meet premium expectations.

No, it’s not a V-6. And no, it’s not a bespoke Renault powertrain. But in markets where fuel efficiency, quiet operation, and smooth torque delivery matter more than Nürburgring lap times, the hybrid setup makes sense—and gives Renault a credible alternative to diesel-heavy rivals.

Renault DNA, Reinterpreted

The bigger challenge isn’t hardware—it’s identity. Renault’s track record in the premium space is, at best, mixed. Cars like the Safrane, Vel Satis, and Avantime never seriously threatened the German establishment. But Renault’s leadership insists this is a different fight, in a different arena.

Product boss Bruno Vanel frames it as a global balancing act: Europe remains important, but growth will come from elsewhere. Design chief Laurens van den Acker is more blunt. In Europe, premium sedans and SUVs are dominated by German brands on home turf. In Korea, Renault has nothing to lose—and freedom to be bold.

That boldness shows in the Filante’s design. While it’s clearly an SUV in stance and size, the styling leans heavily toward sleek, sedan-like proportions. The roofline is low and rakish, the surfaces taut and aerodynamic, and the overall silhouette more coupe-adjacent than boxy. Van den Acker describes it as a nod to speed and motion—fitting for a name borrowed from a record-chasing electric concept.

The front and rear are entirely bespoke, with a sculpted tail and a distinctive face that shares little with Renault’s European lineup. It’s intentionally exotic, shaped by Korean market tastes that favor novelty and visual drama. Don’t expect this design language to bleed back into European Renaults anytime soon; this is a regional play, by design.

A Calculated Gamble

The Filante won’t rewrite Renault’s history overnight, and it won’t topple Hyundai or Kia in their backyard. But that’s not the goal. This SUV exists to prove that Renault can compete—credibly—in premium segments where the money still is. It’s a calculated gamble built on shared platforms, regional insight, and just enough brand confidence to try again where it once stumbled.

If Renault pulls it off, the Filante won’t just be another big SUV. It’ll be evidence that the company has finally learned how to play the long game outside Europe—without forgetting who it is.

Source: Renault, Autocar

NEW CARS

Mercedes Gives the S-Class a Flat-Plane V8

Mercedes-Benz doesn’t usually do mid-cycle refreshes with a flamethrower. But for 2026, the S-Class is getting exactly that—a ground-up rethink that Stuttgart is calling the most extensive update within a single generation in the model’s 50-plus-year history. That’s not marketing fluff. More than half of the car’s components have been reworked, the tech stack has been rewritten, and—because this is still a proper flagship—the V8 has been fundamentally re-engineered.

Let’s start with the headline: the S-Class is going flat-plane.

When the camouflage comes off in the coming weeks, the visual tweaks will matter less than what’s hiding under the hood of the V8 models. The outgoing M176 4.0-liter V8 gives way to a revised M177 that ditches the traditional cross-plane crankshaft in favor of a flat-plane design—the same basic philosophy used in the AMG GT Black Series. Yes, that’s a race-bred solution finding its way into a chauffeured luxury sedan, and no, Mercedes isn’t apologizing for it.

For the uninitiated, a flat-plane crank arranges its crank pins at 180 degrees rather than the 90-degree “X” layout of a cross-plane V8. The result is a lighter, freer-revving engine with evenly spaced firing pulses, a sharper throttle response, and a higher-pitched, more exotic soundtrack. Think less bassy burble, more mechanical snarl—especially as the tach needle climbs.

Crucially, this isn’t about sacrificing character in the name of emissions compliance. Quite the opposite. Output in the mild-hybrid S580 jumps from 496 horsepower to 530, trimming the 0–62-mph sprint toward the four-second mark. Engineers say the flat-plane setup actually helps reduce emissions while unlocking more performance—a rare win-win in today’s regulatory climate.

The Maybach S580 will be next in line, using a higher-output version of the same engine tuned to 603 horsepower. That motor replaces the outgoing V12, which Mercedes is quietly ushering off the European stage. It’s the end of an era, sure—but the replacement is faster, cleaner, and far more scalable across the lineup.

AMG’s updated S63 hasn’t been shown yet, but don’t expect it to sit this party out. The flat-plane M177 is also destined for other heavy hitters, including the upcoming CLE 63, signaling a broader shift in AMG’s V8 philosophy.

If V8 fireworks aren’t your thing—or your market won’t have them—the straight-six S-Class models carry on. The plug-in-hybrid S580e, in particular, gets a meaningful boost: the turbocharged inline-six rises from 362 to 443 horsepower, the electric motor increases output to 161 horsepower, and combined system power lands at a healthy 577 horses.

Inside, the changes are quieter but arguably more important. The refreshed S-Class debuts a significantly updated version of Mercedes’ MB.OS operating system, riding on what the company calls a new service-oriented electrical and electronic architecture. Translation: faster processing, more flexibility for future updates, and a digital experience that won’t feel dated five minutes after delivery.

Mercedes says the revamped S-Class is now in the final stages of road testing and close to series production. UK sales begin later this year, with pricing nudging above the current £100,000 entry point.

In a segment increasingly obsessed with electrification and autonomy buzzwords, Mercedes has taken a different tack: evolve everything, but don’t forget what makes a flagship special. A flat-plane-crank V8 in an S-Class may sound borderline unhinged—and that’s exactly why it works.

Source: Mercedes-Benz; Photos: Autocar

NEW CARS

VW ID. Era 9X Is a Massive Range-Extended EV

Volkswagen has finally plugged the last hole in its electrification strategy, and—surprise—it smells faintly of gasoline. Meet the ID. Era 9X, VW’s first production electric vehicle with a range-extending internal-combustion engine. It comes to us from China via the VW–SAIC joint venture and turns last year’s ID. Era concept into something you can actually register, insure, and wedge into a mall parking garage—assuming you can find a big enough space.

At a glance, the ID. Era 9X looks like it’s been browsing Range Rover’s Pinterest board. The proportions are upright and stately, the surfacing clean, and the overall presence unapologetically massive. This isn’t just a new model; it’s the opening act for a China-specific VW design language, one clearly tuned to local tastes for size, prestige, and back-seat legroom. Lots of back-seat legroom.

Just how big is it? Try this on for scale: the ID. Era 9X stretches 205 inches from nose to tail, making it longer than most Volkswagen Group SUVs and even edging into full-fat luxury territory. It’s wider than a Chevy Tahoe, taller than a Toyota Land Cruiser, and rides on a 120.8-inch wheelbase that would make an S-Class blush. Among VW-group products, only the long-wheelbase Bentley Bentayga clearly outgrows it, and even that advantage may not last once Audi unleashes its rumored Q9.

All that sheet metal doesn’t come cheap in terms of mass. Chinese regulatory filings show the ID. Era 9X tipping the scales at up to 5,952 pounds. That’s roughly the weight of a small moon—or, more relevantly, a three-row SUV packed with tech, batteries, and the expectations of a market that equates size with success.

But the Era 9X’s most interesting feature isn’t its curb weight or its resemblance to something parked outside a luxury ski lodge. It’s the powertrain. Instead of committing fully to battery-only life, Volkswagen has gone with a range-extended EV setup. Under the hood sits a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine, but it never drives the wheels. Its sole job is to act as a generator, keeping the battery fed and range anxiety firmly at bay.

The engine itself is more interesting than you might expect. It’s part of VW’s EA211 family, runs on the Miller cycle for efficiency, and uses a variable-geometry turbocharger—tech borrowed straight from Porsche’s playbook. Output is 141 horsepower, which sounds modest until you remember it’s not there to hustle the SUV, just to keep the electrons flowing.

Actual propulsion comes from electric motors. The base setup uses a single rear-mounted motor producing 295 horsepower. Step up to the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive configuration and total output jumps to a healthy 510 horsepower—enough to move nearly three tons of SUV with convincing urgency. Battery options include a 51.1-kWh pack for the single-motor version, while a larger 65.2-kWh battery is optional there and standard with the dual-motor setup.

Volkswagen claims more than 249 miles of electric range on China’s optimistic CLTC cycle with the larger battery. The company hasn’t published a total combined range figure, but given the presence of a gasoline generator, don’t be surprised if it clears the 600-mile mark, depending on fuel-tank size. In other words, this thing is designed to go very far, very comfortably, without forcing its owner to memorize the location of every DC fast charger between Shanghai and Shenzhen.

For now, the ID. Era 9X is a China-only affair, tailored precisely to a market that has embraced range-extended EVs faster than the West. Still, the concept is clearly on Volkswagen’s mind elsewhere. Bloomberg reports that VW is evaluating similar setups for Europe and the United States, where consumer hesitation around charging infrastructure hasn’t magically disappeared.

And the timing isn’t accidental. VW’s newly revived Scout brand is already preparing to launch the Terra pickup and Traveler SUV with—wait for it—gasoline-powered range extenders. Those body-on-frame models promise around 500 miles of total range, including roughly 150 miles of electric-only driving, proving that Wolfsburg is hedging its bets rather than going all-in on batteries just yet.

The ID. Era 9X may never make it to U.S. shores, but it sends a clear message anyway: Volkswagen is done pretending the road to electrification is one-size-fits-all. In markets where charging is inconvenient and expectations are high, the future—at least for now—comes with a plug, a battery, and a little four-cylinder safety net humming quietly in the background.

Source: Volkswagen