Paris 2014 Renault Espace 17

Bonjour! We're reporting live from the 2014 Paris Mondial De'l Automobile, known to most as the Paris Motor Show. The world's press is streaming into the Porte de Versailles as we speak but coming early and snooping around has its benefits.

We have here for you some of the world's first live pics of the all-new Renault Espace. Renault's press conference is still over an hour away, but the wraps were open for special previews earlier in the morning, and yours truly were chased away by the car's minders more than once.

Anyway, the Renault Espace, one of the pioneers of the MPV genre, is now in its fifth generation, and it's blazing trails once again. A faithful reproduction of the Initaile Paris concept from Frankfurt 2013, the production Espace boasts a crossover look in place of the traditional MPV design.

The glass area is a lot smaller than before, and the car appears raised. Renault says that the new car retains the natural light and airiness of the old car, though. We haven't managed to verify that yet.

The new Espace will be available in five and seven seat forms; the showcar is the three-row version, with three individual middle row seats and a third row that split folds 50:50. The interior, as previewed by our early spyshots has a long colour touch screen system on the centre stack, something that's in fashion today. Functions are accessed via an iDrive style knob between the gear knob and electric parking brake.

We'll be back with more from the Renault booth, in the meantime, enjoy our preview of the preview!