Renault has not been one to be known for big and burly vehicles of any kind. In fact the vehicles that we have seen from this French automaker have usually been of the dainty and tiny sizes mostly made to be able to maneuver in the streets of Paris without much of a problem. This of course includes the Dauphine and the Le Car, which are two great examples of what Renault is known for so when a truck was spied in the wilderness prowling the offroad areas paving its own path the last company expected to have its name on it was Renault.
This new Renault vehicle is a big and beefy truck that is named the Alaskan and certainly appears to be able to handle the rugged terrain and climate challenges of the Alaskan outback. The Alaskan is to make its debut at the Frankfurt auto show as a concept, but this concept appears to be packaged well enough be ready for production very soon, and I’m sure the European followers hope it makes it to the production quickly as this truck looks like it could be a lot of fun to drive and get you where you need to go.
The Alaskan, although light on the details, is powered by a 2.3-liter 163 horsepower four-cylinder diesel engine that has two turbocharger on it to make it a strong truck. This beast can carry a payload of 2,200 pounds and has a lot of great features for you to make it a place for work or play. Some of the most noticeable features include the storage compartments that are built into the walls of the cargo bed, a center exiting exhaust that makes it great for towing and a camera that is mounted into the side mirror to document all your expeditions.
Even though you would never expect a great pickup from Renault, someone on that team knows what they are doing and even put some large 21-inch wheels under the truck. This truck does somehow resemble what we expect to be the next Nissan Frontier and prior to that the Navara which will be the model sold in other countries. The reality is the Alaskan is based upon the Nissan midsized truck and is built on the Mercedes-Benz pickup platform which makes it a blend of the two, not a bad way to go considering everything you can find with the Alaskan.
As I said this looks like a complete truck that is ready for production and Renault is ready to do just that by giving us the truck in the first half of 2016. The Alaskan will be the basis for the production model and I for one certainly hope to have a version offered that is as close to this concept as possible. If this truck were to make it to US soil in this form it just might become the favorite in the midsized lineup very quickly.
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