2013 Renault Fluence Sedan facelift rendered

Renault has been testing a facelifted version of the Fluence sedan for a while now and our roving eye in the sky, EarthFusion, got down to business, and has come up with a render of the 2013 Fluence facelift. This car, which will be a mid career facelift, instead of a full model change, will come with a brand new front end. The grille will see a completely new design to make for a more aggressive face. This is a major departure from the elegant face that the Fluence conveys currently. The front bumper is also anticipated to see a redesign.

A speculative render of the 2013 Renault Fluence Sedan facelift

The headlamps get a new design with a touch of sharpness added. Optional LED daytime running lamps are also expected to an addition to the facelifted version. The rear of the car though, isn’t expected to see any big change apart from more chrome added on the boot lid. All in all, the design philosophy seems to move beyond elegance to give the car a more aggressive and sporty appeal, something that will come as a refreshing change. On whether Renault will effect changes on the interiors of the car is something that we’ll have to wait and watch for.

The facelifted 2013 Renault Fluence sedan is also expected to retain the engine and transmission variants without any changes on that front. The car currently is available with both petrol and diesel engined options. The petrol engine is a 2 Liter unit outputting 135 Bhp-190 Nm and is mated to a CVT automatic transmission. The diesel engine on the other hand is the 1.5 Liter K9K turbo diesel engine delivering 110 PS-240 Nm. This engine is mated to a 6 speed manual transmission. Renault has followed an interesting strategy in India by positioning the diesel engined variant below the petrol engined model.

This strategy has involved the stripping down of the diesel engined model to position it lower than the petrol powered version. However, this approach hasn’t worked very well as the D-segment customers are known demand a minimum level of creature comforts, a factor which played out against the stripped out Fluence Diesel. So, Renault India made course corrections by giving the diesel engined Fluence more creature comforts and features. The Fluence sedan was the first car to be launched by Renault India, ever since the French automaker went solo in the Indian market.