Long live the MPV: this is the new Renault E-Space concept

We've been harping on for a while that the world needs an MPV revival. The bulky lux-vans – Mercedes V-Class and Lexus LM – are all very well, but we mean an actual car. And Renault agrees. Welcome to the E-Space concept.

For a start it has a brilliant name, connoting not just the original Espace but the new car's space-age streamliner vibe, and the internal roominess. And its power: yes, the E is electric.

Renault brand got a new design chief in January, replacing Gilles Vidal who went to Stellantis. He's Alexandre Malval, himself ex-Citroen and Mercedes. The E-Space has been done entirely under his leadership.

Renault people won't say there's a production version on the way, but they're clearly tempted to do it, and excited to be thinking of a car that so well embodies Renault's history and values: "Les voitures à vivre" - cars for life.

It's built around the people. It fits six of them, each of them in their own chair on three rows of two. Those seats slide and rotate, and the floor is flat. The dash, with a panoramic display that'll be coming to future production Renaults, has little bulk.

The whole cabin is as roomy as possible for the footprint on the road. It's 4.72m long, a fraction more than a Skoda Octavia estate, or similar to a Tesla Model Y. It feels even airier than the dimensions suggest, because of the high seats, low belt-line and slim pillars.

In the nose there are hints of the TGV railcar, that great symbol of French engineering. You don't have to squint very hard to see the original 1984 Espace there too, and of the 1996 Mk3 around the rear side window shape. The panels stand slightly outside the glazed surface, and the rear roof spoiler splits so a section can slide forward as a roof rack.

In the past Renault dominated the monobox world, with an XS to L lineup of Twingo, Modus, Scenic, Espace. We live in an age when crossovers dominate, and even today's Espace, not sold in the UK, is just a stretched Austral. Plenty of people are beginning to think we're at peak crossover. The Twingo is back and adored. Is it time for an MPV reunion tour?

Laurens van den Acker, Renault Group design chief who encouraged Malval to design and show the E-Space, was around when Renault launched the last of its pure monobox MPVs, the 2016 Scenic. He said at the time, "if this doesn't work, I give up [with MPVs]".

But today he's had a rethink. "I think there might be a sliver of hope. If the world goes to autonomous driving where you can choose to drive or not, then it changes the whole game with interiors. You can voyage as if you're in a train. The original Espace lost its desirability because you were just considered the chauffeur of your kids.

"Yet with the first Espace there was something beautiful about the view out. The armrest was the top of the door. You could look down.

"And we are bookending the new Twingo. We've done three icons that are small [Twingo, 5, 4] and this stretches the brand to the other side."