UFF

22 PAGES

OF THE BIGGEST

STORIES FROM

PLANET TECH

The last time we saw Alan Partridge in Paris

he was sporting a canary-yellow shirt and

horizon-blue stay-creased action slacks.

He was driving a Renault Espace. Fast

forward to ‘the future’, and Alan would

have an absolute field day in its potential

replacement, because the Renault Morphoz

can grow physically longer at the touch of

a button. Yes, it’s an extender.

The idea behind this concept electric

SUV is actually serious. It means you can

change the size of the vehicle to suit your

journey – shrunken to 4.4m for solo city

driving, or extended to 4.8m for a full load.

It’s not just the cabin size that increases

either, because the Morphoz can be

swapped out with bigger batteries for

longer drives, taking the range from 249

miles to 435 miles. It can even be extended

at a predetermined battery station, where

the undertray opens and extra batteries

are installed in seconds. Any not in use can

be recharged at the same station.

No word on if or when Renault will make

this a reality, but if Alan ever does upgrade

there’ll be room for more than ‘COOK PASS

BABTRIDGE’ on the side.

As hot as... molten Bramley apple fresh from

the microwave

£N/A (concept) / renault.co.uk

HOW LONG IS A PIECE OF BLING?

Renault Morphoz

HOT

FIVE

Knowing me,

knowing you

As the driver approaches,

the Morphoz runs a light

sequence to show they’ve

been recognised. A wave of

the hand then unlocks and

opens the reverse-

hinged doors.