Renault will call its new coupe-style crossover the Rafale, a name that evokes the French Air Force’s fighter jet as well as a racing plane from the 1930s built by a Renault joint venture.
The Renault Rafale will be the third variant of the Austral. In addition to the Austral, Renault in March unveiled the midsize Espace, a longer version of the Austral with five or seven seats. Production of the Espace will start this summer in Spain.
Teaser images of the Rafale were released Tuesday. It will be unveiled on June 18 at the Paris air show at Le Bourget airport outside of Paris.
Renault says the Rafale name dates to a single-seat racing plane from the mid-1930s that was built by Caudron-Renault, at a time when Renault was involved in ventures other than automaking.
