In 1993 , a car arrived on the market that forever changed the perception of the category of the smallest cars and managed to return Renault to its former glory. Who am I talking about? Speaking of Twingo , which this year celebrates its twentieth anniversary since its launch. Let's take this opportunity to remember his story.
It all started at the beginning of the eighties . Renault needed a successor to the cult model 4, which had been in production since 1961. The VBG project managed to create many prototypes over several years (Z in 1981-83, X49 in 1981-82, X44 in 1983-84 or X45 in 1984-85). The basic task was to create a car that would be cheaper than the then smallest models of the brand (R5, Clio) and at the same time would not compete with them.
After several designs, the Italian designer Marcello Gandini 's W-60 model arrived in 1986 to match the brief. However, at that moment, Renault ran out of money for the project, so the car company's bosses put it on hold. Its restoration was taken care of by the designer Patrick Le Quément , who was able to get the city car project, now under the name X-06 , up and running again. To begin with, Le Quément got his hands on two 1:1 models – one was a design by Marcello Gandini that had sharp lines, the other came from the designs of Gaston Juchet and was a hatchback with rounded shapes.
Le Quément had a clear vision from the start. He wanted to create a compact, spacious car that would have a memorable interior and exterior that would make it an icon, not just an ordinary transporter. You can probably guess which project he chose in the end. He passed this vision on to his subordinates – Jean-Pierre Ploué, who was in charge of exterior design, and Gérard Gauvbry, who was in charge of interior design. However, he himself decided that the car would have a wider front wheel track than the Clio, wheels in the corners of the body and a frog-style front end.
The final design was completed in 1988 , and although the company's president, Raymond Lévy , liked the model very much, he found it very daring and controversial and put the whole project on hold for the second time. However, the disappointed Le Quément was not going to give up and wrote a letter to Lévy, in which he probably convinced him so much that he gave the small car the green light for the second time. Result? In 1992, a city car with three doors and the name Twingo appeared for the first time at the Paris Motor Show. The name Twingo is made up of the words "Twist", "Swing" and "Tango", which was intended to emphasize the car's playfulness.
The result was phenomenal. According to surveys, 20% of visitors came to the car show just for the 3.4 meter long Twingo. The success is also underlined by 2240 orders during the exhibition alone.
And what actually made Twingo so interesting? Of course, it was a playful and very cool design . The "egg" body shape, the front end that really resembled a frog, or the very bold body colors. We're not going to lie, design sells and a woman has a say in the first row when buying a car… Moreover, the appearance has not aged even at the end of its life, in 2007. Even the facelifts in 1988, 2000 and 2004 did not fundamentally affect it. The body has such timeless shapes…
But it wasn't just the design that caught his eye. The interior offered and still offers an incredible amount of space for a city car, and thanks to the adjustable and sliding rear seats, great variability was added to the space. Twingo also pioneered digital alarm clocks instead of classic analog ones. At the top of the center panel stood a small display that consisted of a speedometer, fuel gauge, clock and odometer. After all, facelifts have had more of an impact on the interior – over the years, Twingo has received a new steering wheel, better materials or a new center console and more safety features. But the basis was always the same.
Under the hood, a trio of gasoline engines with four cylinders took turns. The first in the offer was a twelve-hundredth engine with a power of 40 kW. This was replaced in 1996 by an eleven-wheeler with a 3 kW higher output. At the end of 2000, the most powerful "twelve" with sixteen valves and a power of 55 kW got under the hood. A manual five-speed gearbox took care of power transmission. In 1994, a semi-automatic was added to the manual, which was replaced in 2001 by a more modern automatic called Quickshift .
In addition to the regular hatchbacks, there are also a number of derivative versions. The Twingo was offered in a two-seat Van version , there is also a sporty Coupé Prototype from 1995 or an electric prototype from 2006. Many limited editions were also launched – Kenzo in 1995 and 2004, "fashionable" Benetton in 1996, a stylish version Elite Agency in 1997, "exotic" Oasis in 2003, Jade in 2006 and finally Collector in 2007, which was the last Twinga edition.
Production of the first generation ended in 2007 , and the number of produced units stopped at more than 2.4 million . In addition to France, the Twingo was also assembled in Uruguay, where production ended in 2002, and in Colombia, where the Twingo was produced until last year.
Still in production, the second-generation Twingo concept was unveiled at the 2006 Paris Motor Show. The series version did not take long to arrive, and in six months in Geneva, Renault managers revealed the second generation of such a popular model. Compared to the first generation, the second generation grew, became more powerful and also lost the charm of uniqueness. The Twingo became a dozen city cars , which no longer appealed to the cute cuckoo. Excellent use of interior space, as well as several funny interior details and the car's central devices remained.
Under the hood, for the first time in the history of the model , a diesel engine appeared , specifically a four-cylinder 1.5 dCi with an output of 47 or 62 kW. Of course, there were, and actually still are, gasoline engines to choose from. From the beginning, they were four-cylinders with the same volume of 1.2 with an output of 43, 55 or turbocharged 74 kW, after modernization Twingo is offered with a four-cylinder 1.2 with an output of 55 kW, a turbocharged 1.2 TCe with an output of 75 kW and 1.5 dCi diesels with an output of 55 and 63 kW. Specialties are the RS version (1.6 with 98 kW) and the Gordini , which was initially only available in combination with the 98 kW "sixteen", later expanded to other versions as a package.
The aforementioned modernization came in 2009 and, in addition to the modified engine range, also brought a new exterior appearance, a modified interior, better equipment and a modified price. However, even this version did not manage to achieve at least a fraction of the popularity of the first generation Twingo.
The second generation also exists in many limited editions . Let's name, for example, the Nokia, Night & Day, Rip Curl, Dolce Vita, Miss Sixty, Mauboussin or RS RB7 models. In addition to them, you can also get racing versions of R1 and R2.
This year is marked by waiting for the third generation Twingo . What it could look like is partly indicated by the Twin'Z electric concept and the sporty Twin'Run . The novelty will stand on a platform developed in cooperation with Daimler and will offer a rear engine and rear-wheel drive… But can it pick up where the first generation left off in 2007?
##Twingo_2##
##Twingo_1##
##Twingo_4##
##Twingo_3##
Source: Renault, carbodydesign.com
