It has been one of the best compacts in Europe, but it will never have a combustion engine again

For many decades, the compact segment has been the most important in Europe by sales volume. All brands competed in the category with at least one model, but few have achieved the popularity of the Renault Mégane. The French compact has been one of the few that has managed to stand up to the reign of the Golf. Its first generation hit the market in 1996 as the replacement for the already legendary Renault 19. Its future is guaranteed, but it will say goodbye to combustion engines.

Renault has made a decision and does not intend to look back. Although the electric car market in Europe is still far behind initial estimates, the French believe that the future is electric. For years, they have been progressively eliminating many of their combustion mechanics, including those diesel engines that became so famous. Today, electrification has become the backbone of the French company. The Mégane we have known over these 30 years will disappear forever.

"There is no room for a Mégane with a combustion engine"

This has been confirmed by Guido Haak, a member of the Renault board, to a well-known German media. Although Haak himself acknowledges that given the European situation they are forced to continue developing electric and thermal engines, that does not mean that the next generation of the Mégane will arrive with combustion engines. The problem is no longer so much the European regulations as the excessive supply that Renault has for sale. The French have to clean out their closet and the Mégane, as we already suspected, will disappear from the lineup.

We suspected this because Renault had already hinted at its strategy with the launch of the Mégane E-TECH (100% electric) in 2022. The last generation of the compact was presented in 2016 and since then it has hardly undergone changes beyond a slight update in 2020. Next year will say goodbye definitively, leaving the electric as the only Mégane available in Europe. This one will undergo an interesting renewal that will improve its electric conditions. It has already been seen on some occasions in its testing program.

In a completely different line, Renault does not plan to modify the range of one of its best-selling cars, the Clio. The new generation was presented just a few days ago with considerable design and technology changes. However, under the hood, the new Renault Clio continues to rely on a traditional mechanical structure. All units come with a gasoline engine, with the only exception being the Clio E-Tech, which is accompanied by an ECO label hybrid system. Another big farewell will be that of the Renault Arkana. Despite its success, the French plan to phase it out very soon.