Tesla can thank the Renault Espace
This page is translated from the original post "Tesla peut dire merci au Renault Espace" in French.
- 28/08/2025 12:02
When Tesla reinvents the car, it’s hard to imagine that a piece of French history is its distant inspiration.
However, behind the very latest six-seat Tesla Model Y L, there is indeed a discreet lineage with the Renault Espace. Launched in 1984, the first Espace revolutionized the codes. Neither sedan, nor station wagon, nor minivan (the term didn’t even exist yet), it offered a revolutionary interior layout: a flat floor, modular seats, and redefined habitable space. For the first time, a family car offered more than just a means of transport: a true mobile living space. The success was such that it redefined the very notion of a family car in Europe, to the extent of making traditional five-seat cars seem outdated.
The flat floor opens new horizons
Forty years later, Tesla and other electric manufacturers are following exactly this logic. Thanks to the flat floor enabled by battery architecture, everything becomes possible. Sedan designers are no longer constrained by a transmission tunnel or a large engine under the hood. The result: spacious, open, modular interiors, where one can envision lounge configurations as well as work or entertainment spaces.
Thanks to electric platforms, free from mechanical constraints, designers can imagine open, spacious, flexible interiors. And customers, as seen in China, are responding eagerly: over 50,000 orders are reportedly already placed for this Model Y L. The first units will be delivered in October, with September slots already filled.
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After the Espace in its time, the Model Y L could well mark the end of the traditional five-seat car model. The electric car, by freeing up the floor, opens an era where the interior becomes the true selling point.
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