One of Europe’s most popular people carriers, the Renault Scenic, is about to receive its first cosmetic refresh to stay ahead of the fierce competition in the compact segment.

The current, third generation of Renault’s minivan was launched onto the European market in 2009 and is available as the five-seat Scenic and the longer 7-seat Grand Scenic. Though we can’t be 100 percent sure, the prototype caught by our spy photographers appears to be the shorter Scenic model.

Either way (and unfortunately for us), Renault’s engineers have done a wonderful job hiding the test car under a full suite of plastic covers.

However, being that it’s a mid-life facelift, don’t expect to see any radical styling changes over the current model but something more in the likes of a light refresh inspired by the French firm’s most recent concepts and especially the R-Sport Study.

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