Renault Fluence Black Edition 1

On Wednesday, a teaser image of the Renault Fluence's rear end was posted up on Renault Malaysia's Facebook page, with nothing hinted at save it was "coming your way soon." Well, the model has now been revealed - TC Euro Cars has introduced the Renault Fluence Black Edition, a more upmarket version of the C-segment sedan.

The variant is based on a Black Metallic version of the Fluence 2.0 16v - which made its local debut last May - and adds on exterior and interior styling cues to differentiate it from the base offering. As its suffix suggests, the car is only available in a single exterior shade.

Exterior elements are made up of a Special Edition bodykit (front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser), a body-coloured grille and chrome exhaust pipe finisher. Also on, reverse sensors integrated into the rear diffuser and a custom 'Black Edition' emblem to identify the variant.

The car rides on the same 17-inch alloys - wrapped with 205/55 rubbers - seen on the standard Fluence, but the units on the BE are done in a snazzier hyper black finish, which is actually closer to gun-metal in tone.

New bits in the interior include full leather seats in a cinnamon brown shade and piano black finishing for a number of inserts and lining - these 'replace' the silver-coloured finish on the regualar Fluence.

Items include the dashboard lining, air-conditioning vent and gearshift surrounds, steering inserts as well as the front door handle covers. The front speaker grille lining also gets the piano black treatment. The edition also gets front door sill plates.

Otherwise, it's very much that seen on the regular Fluence - to recap, the 2.0 litre four-cylinder engine it wears is good for 143 hp at 6,000 rpm and 195 Nm of torque at 3,700 rpm, and the mill is paired with an X-Tronic CVT with oil cooler.

Performance numbers remain unchanged - the 0-100 km/h dash is done in a little above 10 seconds, and top speed is 195 km/h, while combined FC is a claimed 7.7 litres per 100 km on the European cycle.

Ditto the standard equipment seen on the Fluence - auto headlamps and wipers, rear air vents, keyless entry and start (Renault hands-free card), cruise control and seven-inch touchscreen with Renault R-Link, navigation and reverse camera. as well as the six airbags, ESP, ASR and rear-seat Isofix that make up the safety kit.

Finally, pricing, and the Fluence Black Edition goes for RM119,888 on-the-road, without insurance, a slight premium of just under five grand over the regular Fluence 2.0.