Renault’s fancy new coupe SUV thing will be called the Rafale

Renault is set to launch a coupe-ified version of the Austral, because literally every SUV must have a coupe equivalent these days. 

We’re told that the new car will be a “top-of-the-range coupe SUV” and that like the Austral it will sit on the CMF-CD platform and use E-Tech hybrid powertrains. Yawn.

Oh, and it has a name. It will be called the Renault Rafale, which is a brilliant moniker and we’re sad that it’s being wasted on something of this ilk. And it gets even better if you look up what it’s named after – the Caudron Renault C460 was an uber-cool single-seater racing plane from the 1930s that was built to break records and win competitions. It was powered by a supercharged six-cylinder Renault aircraft engine and was renamed Rafale – French for a gusty wind – a year after Renault took over Caudron in 1933.

To further play on the link, Renault says it will reveal the new Rafale at the 54th Paris Air Show in Le Bourget in June.