The New French Presidential Limo Is Kind Of Amazing

If you are the leader of a country, it’s important to have a great official state car. It not only says a lot about who you are as a person, but it also says what kind of society you represent. This is especially important for the Président de la République française, or French President. Why? Well, let’s just say that French Presidents due occasionally come under gunfire from militant groups opposed to Algerian independence and have to be saved by their limousine.

To be fair, only Charles de Gaulle was so targeted specifically, but French leaders do seem to take an unusual amount of heat. An anarchist tried to dispatch Alexandre Millerand on Bastille Day in the 1920s; a few years before that, a different group of anarchists tried to take out both the President of France and the King of Spain; and most recently, President d’Estaing was nearly hoisted by a bomb after landing at an airport in Corsica.

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What do all of these events have in common? The target was always on the move and almost always either in a carriage or a car. As History notes, the Citroën DS probably helped save de Gaulle’s life:

Near dusk on August 22, 1962, de Gaulle and his wife were riding from the Elysee Palace to Orly Airport. As his black Citroen DS sped along the Avenue de la Liberation in Paris at 70 miles per hour, 12 OAS gunmen opened fire on the car. A hail of 140 bullets, most of them coming from behind, killed two of the president’s motorcycle bodyguards, shattered the car’s rear window and punctured all four of its tires. Though the Citroen went into a front-wheel skid, de Gaulle’s chauffeur was able to accelerate out of the skid and drive to safety, all thanks to the car’s superior suspension system. De Gaulle and his wife kept their heads down and came out unharmed.

This is all to say, if you’re a French President, it’s best to take this seriously.

The Presidential Renault Rafale Is Quite Cool

Although “The Beast”  serves as the official limousine of the President of the United States, that vehicle is not really a sedan but instead a heavy-duty truck meant to look like a Cadillac Limo. It’s a bit wild that, for all of America’s obsession with crossovers, the French should have beaten us to having the first official armored presidential crossover (technically, the President and VP do sometimes ride in an up-armored Suburban).

This particular vehicle is a Renault Rafale Hyper Hybrid E-Tech 4×4, which is an all-wheel drive plug-in hybrid that produces 300 horsepower and can go about 65 miles (WLTP) on a single charge. This gives the vehicle an enormous 680-mile range in civilian trim. It also reflects both the French values of environmental responsibility and style.

Obviously, this is not in civilian trim, and the armoring alone is probably going to cut down both numbers significantly. However, starting with such an efficient vehicle that produces a lot of power is a great way to compensate for the weight. While it’s not the most powerful Rafale the French President has access to, it’s the only one you can bring to a state dinner.

Aesthetically, the car is distinguishable from the stock version due to its small French state flag and the blue-white-and-red grille inserts, as well as the integrated flashing lights. While the front windshield is clearly armored, the armoring company, Centigon, did a remarkably good job of integrating the thicker glass in a way that doesn’t distract from the overall design of the car.

Because this is a French car, there has to be some kind of unintentionally hilarious translation of the press release, and this one delivers with the subhead “A FRENCH THREE-WAY COLLABORATION.”

Perfect. That’s a three-way with the Elysée Palace, Renault, and French artists. I’m sure it’s not the first time that the Elysée has been home to one of those.

Is There Some Over-The-Top French Touch?

Of course there is.

Making use of a material rarely seen in the automotive world and as part of a careful selection process, designers opted for a black marble with white veins, quarried in the Pyrenees. Placed in precise touches around the rear centre console, on the dashboard and on the central branch of the steering wheel of the Presidential Renault Rafale, the marble adds an elegant mineral finish to a cabin designed as an office on wheels. From the selection of the marble blocks to their integration, the entire process was overseen by Mineral Expertise, a leading Franco-Italian company and stonework specialist. Drawing upon its unique expertise, it was able to adapt this premium material to the technical constraints of the automotive industry, achieving a level of finesse, strength and durability in line with Renault standards.

If you thought Piano Black was hard to clean, just wait until you have marble from the damn Pyrenees!

The other kind of interesting touch here is the layout:

At the rear, the passenger compartment is designed as an office on wheels, with a bespoke layout for functional and ergonomic use. Particular emphasis has been placed on thermal and acoustic comfort for passengers: enhanced sound insulation creates an environment conducive to work and confidential discussions, while climate control has been optimised to maintain a well-balanced interior temperature.

Having had the chance to try out various state vehicles from around the world a couple of years ago, I can tell you that an emphasis is usually placed on the comfort of the passenger and not the driver. There are now wide shots of he rear, for obvious reasons, but it does sound like there may be a set of two VIP-style seats out back, which we get a glimpse of.

Also, the seatbelt appears to be barfing? That’s kind of strange.

The current President, Emmanuel Macron, has a fleet of vehicles, and this is just one of them. However, I have to give Renault credit for outdoing the Peugeot 5008 that Macron got recently from Stellantis.

If you ever go to the Peugeot museum in Sochaux, which is amazing, I highly recommend checking out the Peugeot 604 used as an official Presidential limo. That car has presence.

This new one? It’s pretty nice, too, and way more frugal.