From the people who brought you the delicate Dauphine and the dainty Le Car comes something completely different. Renault is leaving the fashionable streets of Paris far behind as its strikes out for the wildest West in this beefy pickup, which takes the name “Alaskan.”
The unlikely Alaskan is a concept, and it’s coming to the Frankfurt auto show. Details are a bit scarce, but we do know that the vehicle is powered by a 2.3-liter, 163-hp four-cylinder diesel fortified by two turbochargers, and has a “one-tonne” (1000-kg, or 2200-pound) payload. Interesting details include stowage compartments built into the inside walls of the cargo bed, a center-exiting exhaust—perfect for towing—and a camera mounted in the side mirror for “the filming of passing landscapes.”
Despite its lack of experience in this area, Renault clearly has studied pickup design, as the Alaskan rolls on chunky, 21-inch wheels and features oversize badges front and rear—although, wisely, “ALASKAN” is spelled out on the tailgate in much larger letters than “Renault.” The Alaskan also bears more than a passing a resemblance to the new Nissan Navara pickup (our next Frontier) on which it’s presumably based.
That’s probably because the Alaskan was built with production intent; Renault says the concept “paves the way for a pickup that will have a global calling.” We’ll see that truck in the first half of 2016, and, according to its manufacturer, can expect that “the production version’s design will be similar in spirit to that of the Alaskan concept and will feature the same dimensions.” So it’ll be a Navara/Frontier then, and also share its platform with the Mercedes pickup being spun from the same bones.
All of this means, of course, that when the new Frontier arrives, Francophile owners—or just rugged individualists—could potentially swap out some of the Nissan’s stock body panels for Renault pieces, thus creating a one-of-a kind pickup in which to roam the last frontier.
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