Ondelios concept has Renault's first DCT
While design critics mused over the controversial lines of Renault’s top of the range Ondelios concept car at the Paris show, engineering commentators pondered the feasibility of its proposed powertrain.
The extravagantly styled 4.8 meter (15 ft) long-haul grand tourer seats six in a two-plus-two-plus-two formation, each occupant having a generous hemispherical armchair-like seat and a club-class reclining facility. Full-length butterfly side doors open outwards in two parts, the sills descending to form an entry step and the upper sections rising above head height to provide shelter to passengers entering and leaving. The dashboard is particularly intriguing: the fabric skin is backlit with information for driving and entertainment, projecting information on speed, consumption and hybrid drive status.
That hybrid drive system has a front-mounted two-liter diesel engine giving 205 horsepower and driving the front wheels through a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox. Both front and rear axles carry 20 kW electric motors, allowing both hybrid operation and four wheel drive capability, as well as the ability to give a power boost for extra acceleration when required.
Renault does not name the supplier of the transmission or explain how it interacts with the hybrid drive elements. Consumption, claims the company, is kept down to 4.5 liters per 100 km (50 US mpg) – an impressive figure for a top-end
luxury vehicle seating six adults.