Renault puts an AI chatbot on its website, askrnlt wants to speed up the sales process
Renault is testing a new chat agent called askrnlt on its Spanish website, built on Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash model and designed to guide customers from browsing models to configuring a car in their own language. The idea makes obvious sense. Buying an electric or hybrid car is getting more complicated by the year. The real question is whether this system genuinely saves time, or simply adds another talkative layer on top of the usual sales page.
According to Renault, the company developed askrnlt in house and has already deployed it in Spain across the model pages for the Twingo, Renault 5, Renault 4, Clio, Captur, Megane, Symbioz, Scenic, Austral, Espace, Rafale and Kangoo. The tool works on both desktop and mobile, and Renault plans to roll it out to other major European markets during 2026.
Renault is not trying to reinvent the customer relationship here. It is doing something more practical, and probably more useful. The aim is to cut down on wandering, helping users reach the right model, the right powertrain and, eventually, the right configuration with less friction. As charging, hybrids, EV use cases and related services grow more confusing, a tool that can pull the information together without sending buyers through ten different subpages starts to look rather valuable. That much is clear from Renault’s own description of how the system is meant to work.
Renault is hardly alone in this. Mercedes Benz already uses its Mercedes Virtual Assistant in the online store, promising vehicle search and more personalised recommendations in real time. BMW, meanwhile, says its AI based assistant for BMW and MINI answers customer questions around the clock on websites and in apps, drawing on a verified knowledge base. So askrnlt does not open a new era. It joins a race that is getting crowded very quickly, with carmakers trying to turn the sales page into something closer to a conversation.
What Renault is proposing is not abstract AI theatre, but a tool planted directly into model pages, where it is supposed to move the buyer closer to a decision. The weakness is just as obvious. If the answers turn vague, or get basic details wrong on specifications, trims or powertrains, the whole promise of a smarter customer experience falls apart in no time.
askrnlt could prove genuinely useful if it manages to answer the questions buyers actually struggle with, and does so quickly, accurately and consistently. If not, it will be just another web chat with a more fashionable badge.
