Alexandre Malval: creating the next generation of Renault Icons  

A Renault recognisable at first glance 

For Alexandre Malval, Renault Brand Design Director, recognising a Renault without seeing its logo starts with its silhouette and proportions. These define a car’s stance and make it recognisable from a distance. Details, surfaces and lighting signatures then reinforce this identity. 

The challenge is to build a cohesive vehicle range in which every model shares certain common design cues while retaining its own distinctive personality. 

Renault design must express the brand’s DNA: cars designed for everyday life, with expressive, contemporary styling and technology that puts occupants first. 

This vision translates into four key design principles: creating desirable, expressive cars; putting technology at the service of people; embracing electrification; and designing interiors as genuine living spaces. For Alexandre Malval, these four pillars must guide every design decision, from exterior styling and interior ambience to interfaces and customer experience. Every project should strike a balance between emotion, sensuality, technology and modernity. 

Reinventing heritage without nostalgia 

Renault has an exceptionally rich heritage: the Renault 5, Renault 4, Renault 8 Gordini, Espace, Twingo… These models have made their mark on automotive history and helped forge a strong emotional connection with the brand. For Alexandre Malval, this heritage is a valuable source of creative inspiration. But the aim is not to reproduce the past. Iconic models are reinterpreted using today’s design language, technologies and proportions. 

“This emotional value is precious to Renault because it embodies the brand and brings it to life. I have been entrusted with a wonderful heritage, and I take great care of it. It is important to do so without nostalgia. We are not trying to reproduce the cars of the past; the aim is to reinterpret and reinvent them.” 

Reinterpreting Renault’s iconic models makes it possible to draw on the brand’s history to inspire new creations that reflect today’s lifestyles and customer expectations. 

Future Renault models will not necessarily draw on the brand’s existing heritage. They may also emerge from entirely new concepts, offering original solutions to customer needs through new architectures or technological innovation.  

Electrification opens up new creative possibilities 

Electrification is profoundly transforming automotive design. New architectures make different proportions possible and offer greater freedom in the way volumes and interior space are organised. These changes go hand in hand with advances in technology. Connectivity, interfaces and new features are expanding the scope of design: it is no longer just about designing a car, but about creating a cohesive experience, from the exterior to the interior. 

For Alexandre Malval, this transformation is an opportunity to push the boundaries of design while remaining true to what defines Renault: cars designed to make everyday life easier and more enjoyable through simplicity, comfort, practicality and innovation. 

Artificial intelligence: a valuable tool for designers 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already transforming designers’ day-to-day work. Starting with a sketch, it allows them to rapidly explore different colours, perspectives and environments, testing more design directions in far less time. For Alexandre Malval, AI is above all an accelerator of creativity and execution. It frees up time and significantly expands the realm of possibilities. 

However, it cannot replace human inspiration and creativity, the initial hand-drawn sketch or the designer’s judgement. Faced with the multitude of options generated, it is still the designer who selects, combines and discards ideas, giving the project its direction. They are also responsible for shaping the vehicle’s overall identity, character and consistency with Renault’s brand identity. AI multiplies the possibilities and makes it possible to produce realistic renderings more quickly; the designer retains the vision, intent and final say. 

Renault design on the global stage 

Renault design must also express itself on an international scale. The design teams in France work closely with Renault design teams in Brazil, India and South Korea to combine brand consistency with local specificities. 

Vehicle dimensions, regulations, usage patterns, colours and materials can vary from one market to another. Customer expectations in Korea, India and Latin America are not necessarily the same. Yet these differences must all be expressed within a shared Renault identity. 

The ambition, therefore, is to create vehicles that share the same fundamentals while being adapted to the realities of their respective markets. Alexandre Malval sees them as “brothers and sisters”: different, yet instantly recognisable as members of the same family. 

Creating the next generation of Renault icons 

Alexandre Malval’s vision sets out a five-year ambition: to build a cohesive, international and instantly recognisable vehicle range, in which every model has its own distinctive character. Design must meet customer expectations while creating emotion and desire. The aim is to stand out not only through contemporary styling, but also through the ingenuity of new concepts. 

“We want to inspire our customers to buy our vehicles by standing out from the crowd, either through highly contemporary styling that reflects our brand identity, or through the ingenuity of particularly innovative concepts.” 

The challenge, therefore, is to evolve Renault design without losing what makes the brand unique, while imagining the models that will shape the decades to come.