Renault Latitude Revealed: A 21st Century 25

French marque returns to luxury segment with spiritual successor to the 25 saloon

By Riggers / Tuesday, 8 June 2010 / Loading comments

Renault is persisting with a presence in the luxury car sector with this, the new Renault Latitude. At almost five metres long and more than 1.8 metres wide, it will be Renault's largest car when it goes on sale this autumn.

The Latitude is based on the same architreecture as the Laguna and Espace, and the Korean-market Samsung SM5 executive saloon (pictured below right).

The French maker says that the Latitude will be "a truly high-end package that will position it as the spearhead of international Renault's saloon car range".

It essentially replaces the quirky and poor-seklling Vel Satis (which died last year) as the Renault saloon flagship, but has reportedly been designed to evoke the spirit of the Renault 25 - arguably the last commercially successful large Renault saloon.

It's not been decided whether the Latitude is headed for the UK, However. Britain is a marginal market for these sorts of cars these days - the similarly positioned Citroen C6 has only found just over 700 owners in the UK since its introduction in 2006 - but a decision won't be made until the end of the year.

So far Renault has only announced plans to put the Latitude on sale in Asia, Africa, Australia, the Gulf, Mexico, Russia, Turkey - all markets where the Renault brand has a strong reputation. A European version of the car will be unveiled at the Paris motor show this autumn, before it hits European showrooms at the start of 2011.