Thanks to the Paris Motor Show, this week we've seen some wild automotive concepts from Citröen and Fiat. Now Renault gets into the game with their E-Space Concept, the name being a twist on their pioneering Espace minivan from 1984. (American readers: What the Dodge Caravan was in the 'States, the original Espace was to Europe.) The E-Space Concept is for an electric minivan, penned with clean lines: As with the other vehicles we looked at this week, it has ditched the instrument cluster and gone with a full-width screen. That aside, the most striking thing about the concept is the interior, specifically the seats. Breaking free from the cues of the automotive world with its traditional bucket seats, the seats embrace the world of interior design, with lacquered shells that bring to mind the style of Pierre Paulin. Visually light and particularly slim at the top – much like the seats in the 1984 Espace – they appear to float in the cabin. From a more technical perspective, the seat design is both modular and sophisticated. Identical in size and design, the seats rotate slightly on their axis, inviting passengers to sit down. The characteristics of the six seats vary depending on the row. The two seats in row 2 swivel through 180° to form a "TGV train square" with row 3. In the standard, forward-facing position, passengers in row 2 have access to folding tray tables with a 12.3-inch screen mounted on the backs of the seats in row 1. In the four-seat configuration, the two seats in row 2 fold down completely to form a large table available to the passengers in row 3. In this configuration, they can also see the screens on the backs of the seats in row 1. The E-Space is a temperature-taking concept, rather than a production preview. However, Renault says that that full-width dashboard screen will appear in their next-gen Scenic and Rafale SUVs. It seems that with multiple manfacturers, those things are coming, whether we want them or not.

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