The 2016 Renault Talisman has been revealed overnight before its official debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

THE 2016 RENAULT TALISMAN is the French car maker’s new big, premium car which, if the brand is to be believed, “[takes] wellbeing and driving enjoyment to a new level”. The sad news, maybe, is that the Talisman is likely to sell only in Europe and possibly China. There’s no word from Renault Australia yet about whether it will indeed sell in Australia, but in a statement overnight the company said the Talisman wouldn’t sell in the UK, so…

So far only photos of the sedan have been shown off, but Renault says a wagon (estate) is on its way too. Available with Renault’s 4Control four-wheel steering and active damping, the brand claims the Talisman delivers “unique road manners, plus safe, dynamic, agile handling, and outstanding ride comfort”. 

The Talisman’s active damper system offers four different modes: Comfort, Sport, Eco and Neutral, plus a fully configurable Perso mode. Each of these very distinct settings creates and co-ordinates a specific driving emotion by adjusting:

▪The engine response

▪The EDC transmission’s gearshift calibration

▪The degree of effort required to turn the steering wheel

▪The active damping settings

▪The configuration of the 4Control system

At the same time, the in-car ambience is harmonised by adapting:

▪The colour of the ambient lighting to the required mood (green, blue, sepia, red or purple)

▪The presentation and colour of the information displayed by the instruments

▪The engine sound

▪The driver’s massaging seat, activated in Comfort mode

▪The performance of the climate control system in Eco mode

The Talisman is available with the choice of either two petrol engines or three diesel engines (depending on the market). The Energy TCe 150 and Energy TCe 200 units will be exclusively mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch EDC automatic transmission. The Energy dCi 110 unit can be mated to either a six-speed manual gearbox or to a six-speed dual-clutch EDC automatic transmission. The Energy dCi 130 unit will similarly be available with either a six-speed manual gearbox or a six-speed dual-clutch EDC transmission. As in the new Renault Espace, the Energy dCi 160 unit – equipped with twin turbos – will be exclusively mated to a six-speed dual-clutch EDC gearbox.

The Talisman measures 4.85 metres long, 1.87 metres wide, 1.46 metres tall, with a wheelbase measuring 2.81 metres. Front and rear seat headroom is 902 and 855mm, respectively and while that sounds impressive, it’s a good deal less room than you get in a Ford Mondeo.

Alexis Martot, exterior designer of the Talisman, said: “My chief priority was to make sure the car had all the right fundamentals in terms of its proportions, the ratio of glazed areas to sheet metal and wheel size.

“The next task was to ensure that the Talisman always looked natural and balanced when seen from any angle. In this type of exercise there will inevitably be areas where compromises have to be made: while it is important to ‘stretch the lines’ in order to give the body a well-planted stance in both length and width to visually lower the roofline, it is absolutely out of the question to do this if it impinges on occupant accommodation or headroom.

“On a large family vehicle like this, it is also essential to recognise that buyers expect a large boot. Yet we need to avoid the ‘backpack’ effect. In other words, we must ensure that the rear boot section is neither too tall nor too dominant in order to ensure a balanced impression. The lines must ‘tuck in’ at the back to achieve the desired elegance, but not excessively. And while the Talisman’s lines are sleek, we took great care to ensure it isn’t pitched too steeply forward merely to accentuate the dynamic effect.”

Depending on the market, the Talisman offers three different interior treatments and five equipment levels:

LIFE: black dashboard, leather-trimmed steering wheel and black fabric seats inspired by men’s tailoring;

ZEN: same ambience as the Life equipment level but with lighter-coloured trim strips;

BUSINESS: same ambience as the Zen equipment level but with additional equipment;

INTENS: combined fabric/ semi leather seats, or optional dark brown or black Riviera leather upholstery and matching dashboard. Chocolate brown top-stitching; and

INITIALE PARIS: black or sand grey dashboard with dark charcoal or silver top-stitching, Nappa full-grain leather upholstery in a graded grey pattern or solid black, and Nappa leather-trimmed steering wheel.

Renault hasn’t talked price or final specification, but we can expect all of that to be revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.