Renault Twingo
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The Renault Twingo is a city car built by the French manufacturer Renault, launched in 1993. The Twingo quickly became popular in Europe due to its unusual looks and its ease of use. It has undergone two major restylings, and is still in production.
It was designed under Patrick Le Quément, Renault's chief designer. Le Quément's belief was that it was a greater risk for Renault to take no risks at all, having seen its market share suffer from cars such as the Renault 9 and 11. It has been rumoured that the design of the Twingo was partially inspired by the ships from the Konami videogame Twinbee[[Citing sources citation needed]]; however, Renault has made no statement regarding this. Another, a better documented design link is that to the Polish prototype Beskid.
The "Twingo" name comes from "Twist", "Swing" and "Tango" and it denotes the fun and active personality of this little car.
1993
When the car was launched, Renault's senior bosses said that the British market would not want a small city car and so Renault would not be producing a right hand drive version for the UK market. Later entrants to this market and their incredible popularity in the UK like the Fiat Cinquecento, Ford Ka and Smart proved that this had been a big mistake in judging its market by Renault, particularly as the original compact city car (The BMC Mini) was a British Design Icon and still being produced some 30 years later.
Despite the car's sales success, it still lags behind the Ford Ka in the A-class segment, partly due to Renault's decision not to produce a right-hand drive version, meaning that official imports to the United Kingdom (Renault's biggest export market) and Ireland never happened.
The Twingo featured revoluntary features (at the time of launch) of a centrally mounted instrument panel, consisting of a speedometer, fuel gauge and clock, with the odometer and trip recorder selected by pushing a button on the end of the steering column stalk. This left just a strip of warning lights in the area behind the steering wheel. It also had a sliding rear seat, which could be moved to either increase boot space or rear seat legroom. The boot parcel shelf was also unusual in that it was attached to the inside of the tailgate, and lifted up with the tailgate. It could also be clipped back against the rear window when not required.
2006
Just appeared a battery electric vehicle version presented in the international Geneva Motor Show in March, that fits Zebra batteries2007
The Renault Modus was originally planned to supersede the Twingo, but now a new generation will be produced. This will probably now be launched in 2007, partly due to the fact that the bosses at Renault were not happy with the design and have ordered a redesign.
Unlike the original however, it will also be offered in right-hand drive.
Beskid Link
The Beskid was a Polish vehicle designed in early 1980s at the Ośrodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy Samochodów Małolitrażowych factory. The monospace body was at the time a novel idea. In 1981, the design team led by Wiesław Wiatrak started work on the Beskid 106. In 1982 their construction plans were complete and they started working on the first prototype that was presented in the spring of 1983. The body chracterized itself with a Cd value of 0.29 - this led the Beskid to use only 3.9 L of gasoline per 100 km at a speed of 90 km/h.
Political and economic reasons prevented mass production; seven prototypes were created in the meantime. The Communist government officials of Poland ordered all of the prototypes to be destroyed. The engineers disobeyed them, which is why the original prototype is still around at the Museum of Technology in Warsaw. The novel monospace body was also patented. However, the funds to renew the patents ran out; Renault used took advantage of the situation to develop the Twingo. However, Renault waited until the patents ran out definitively.
See also
External links
| Renault car timeline, 1980s-present - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |||||
| City car | Twingo | Twingo II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Supermini | Super 5 | Clio I | Clio II | Clio III | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Small family car | 9 / 11 | 19 | Mégane I | Mégane II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Large family car | 18 | 21 | Laguna I | Laguna II | Laguna III | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Executive car | 25 | Safrane | Vel Satis | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mini MPV | Kangoo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Modus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Compact MPV | Scénic I | Scénic II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Large MPV | Espace I | Espace II | Espace III | Espace IV | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Avantime | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coupé | Fuego | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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