Javi Martin
In October 1992, on the occasion of the Paris motor show, Renault surprised again as it had done on other occasions with a vehicle whose approach turned out to be one of the most intelligent that the French had developed to date. That day, October 5, the final result of the VGB project (which later became W60 and finally, X06) was officially presented. A car that had to follow the path of the Renault 4 in a modern key with a much more youthful and colorful mood. That car was the Renault Twingo. Denomination that arose from merging the words Twist, Swing and Tango. Three types of dance that, according to the brand, emphasized the dynamic and fresh character of the new model. That character, perhaps, was the argument that convinced during his presentation. Or it could also have been the interesting solutions and even the design. Which found as many followers as detractors. But the fact is that shortly after its launch, that same day, 2.240 orders were closed.
The Twingo commercialization started in 1993. In April. Resorting to an advertising campaign that Renault itself used some years before with the launch of the Renault 5, which consisted of cartoons that, in the case of the R5, recounted “The adventures of Suprecar” (the adventures of the Supercar) and in the case of the Twingo, with With a less childish spirit, it emphasized its distinctive design, its versatility and its agility in the city with a catchy slogan: “invent yourself how to live it”.. Curiously, in Spain, this animated commercial was modified and in certain scenes the drawing representing the Twingo was replaced by real images of the car. Spain is different, you know...
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The little Twingo was almost a world car. It was manufactured in Flins (France), in Valladolid (Spain), in Montevideo (Uruguay) and in Envigado (Colombia). The last Renault Twingo left the plant in Colombia in June 2012, although in Europe it left the assembly line in 2007. In the Old Continent it was sold for 14 years, reaching 2.075.300 units. In Colombia, for its part, it reached 100.000 units between 1995 and 2012. A real success.
The history of the Renault Twingo has continued with different generations, although none has been anywhere near as original and groundbreaking as the first edition. The latest generation of the Renault Twingo went on the market in 2014 and was the result of a joint development between the French firm and Smart, standing out for its five-door body and its rear engine (yes, the latest Twingo is propulsion). As of December 2022, it is only marketed with an electric motor.
A DEVELOPMENT OF ALMOST TWENTY YEARS
As we have already commented on occasion, future classic cars will be very different from what we are used to. You just have to look at the Renault Twingo, with its rounded shapes, and compare it with the mythical Renault 5, for example. And not just for exterior design; the cabin is a world apart. But, Although it may not seem like it, the Twingo has turned 30 and, legally, could be registered as historic. The fact of seeing them still in circulation subtracts some cache as a classic, but the Twingo deserves its place among the cars to remember.
The story of the “egg”French offers more than enough arguments to win the affection of the fans, who join solutions that made the car an innovative model in its segment. In fact, the complete history of the Renault Twingo covers much more than 30 years, since the beginnings of the project go back to the 70s, specifically until 1973, when the project was launched “Voiture Bas de Gamme” (which can be translated as "low-end car"). The objective of this project was to create a simple, economic vehicle with compact dimensions but with a spacious and usable cabin. Something like a modernized Renault 4. However, the VBG project was suspended a few years later because the right path was never found.
At the beginning of the work, Mr. Robert Opron was put in charge, a guy who had on his resume the creation of the Citroën CX and Citroën GS as well as the redesign of the Citroën DS. That is, innovation and unusual solutions were not new to him. To help him, Gastón Juchet was placed and only one guideline was given: a car had to be created to replace the Renault 4.
They worked for two years, until July 29, 1975, to shape two proposals, both presented at the same time through life-size models. The directive was not satisfied and they urged the two engineers to create more for 1976. That year, the then designer of the brand, Jacques Nocher, also presented an additional proposal. Three new designs were shown to those responsible for the French firm and three designs that were similarly rejected, causing the project to be cancelled.
Seven years later, in 1983, the Polish firm FSM presented a car called the Beskid 106, a curious car that had been created to replace the FIAT Polski 126p, which was the Polish version of the FIAT 126. This model was developed by BOSMAL Automotive Research and Development Center (founded in 1972 to provide engineering and development services) with the engineer Wieslaw Wiatrak in charge of the project, standing out for its characteristics: compact size, minivan shape and a spacious cabin.
In addition, the bodywork boasted great aerodynamic efficiency thanks to a Cx of 0,29. Unfortunately, the Beskid 106 never went into production and in 1987 the project was canceled and even the destruction of the seven prototypes that had been built was ordered, something that was never fully consummated. Moreover, one of the copies can be seen at the Muzeum Inżynierii Miejskiej in Krakow, while the Technological Museum of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw has another copy.
This small vehicle, which was not exactly a paragon of innovation at first glance, caught the attention of many people at Renault, because it hid some very interesting things and offered a possible starting point for the old VBG project. For example, the total length was between 3,23 and 3,5 meters (prototypes were made with both lengths), with a wheelbase of 2.150 millimeters, a height of 1.364 millimeters, and a width of 1.530 millimeters, offering space for four occupants and weighing only 630 kilos.
The mechanics were not very powerful, as they developed two options based on the twin-cylinder of the FIAT 126, but the most powerful, with 22 Kw and 49 Nm, could launch the Beskit 106 up to 120 km/h and keep it at 90 km/h spending little more 3,5 liters per 100 kilometers.
Thus, in 1983 and with his eyes set on the little Bestkit (name, by the way, which comes from a mountain range that passes near the city of Bielsko-Biala, where both BOSMAL and the FMS factory were located), he rescued the GBV project. For the occasion, a renowned designer who had already worked for Renault designing the Supercinco was used: Marcelo Gandini, who created two new life-size proposals, which, inexplicably, did not convince the board of the French company either. Nobody was able to find the right key and the project, once again, seemed doomed to failure.
However, the project remained active and in 1985 the name was changed to the W60 project, becoming in 1986 directed by Jean-Pierre Ploué, who would later become chief designer of PSA. Ploué developed a small minivan with curved and simple shapes, which in 1987, with the arrival of the controversial Patrick LeQuément, began to have a future.
By then, the project had changed its name again and became known as the X06 and had found its ultimate inspiration in the great success of the Renault Espace. Finally, in 1988, the desired result was achieved, the design was frozen and work on the exterior forms was stopped. Meanwhile, Gerard Gauvbry took care of the cockpit.
Road to success
Curiously, although the project seemed to be on the right track, deep down, it was not. When the project was presented to the board of directors again, the reaction was the same as on previous occasions, they were not satisfied or convinced of its commercialization and it was not long before they returned to the drawing boards and even for another cancellation. Apparently, they considered it a very risky design. However, Mr. LeQuément saw potential and also had the support of the then president of Renault, Raymond Levy and after insisting and assuring that the originality of the car would bear fruit, the project went ahead and the first development prototypes began rolling in 1991.
A year later, in 1992 and as previously mentioned, the final Renault Twingo was presented during the Paris motor show. Production began at the French plant of Films de París, doing the same shortly after at FASA Renault, in Valladolid (it disappeared, as such, in the year 2000). Then it was manufactured at the Sofasa plant in Envigado, Colombia, in 1995 and later, starting in 1998, in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The final result, the car that people could buy, soon became famous for its minivan design, which was also beginning to become popular thanks precisely to Renault itself and its Espace. It was a very simple car, remarkably simple, taking into account the problems that the designers had to shape the car they were looking for from the directive. The body panels were smooth, they are trim, without complications. There were no frills, not even in the technical section, except for one small detail: it used recycled materials in some sections of the car.
The chassis, for example, was a steel monocoque, without innovations that would increase the price unnecessarily, which is why it had a McPherson-type front suspension and a rear axle with torsional elements. However, it boasted of mounting protection bars against side impacts, something that was highly appreciated at the time. He especially highlighted the restyling that was carried out in 1998, coming to mount front and side airbags as an option.
It was never a fast car, it was designed to drive around the city and that showed in the engine options. At first, it began to be sold with a single finish and a single engine that started from a base with a good handful of years. It was a four-cylinder with 55 hp, the old 1.2 C3G Cléon-Fonte, whose first appearance was with the R8 in the 60s. Many will remember the Renault Twingo Easy, which mounted a change with a robotic clutch, but the gear selection was manual (it only had two pedals, but the gears were chosen in a conventional way, without pressing a clutch). It did not work and was little on the market.
Over the years things have been added to the range, such as ABS, the electric pack (electric mirrors and central locking) or different upholstery, new paints, a four-speed heating fan (it only came out with two speeds). and in 1996, for example, came power steering and a new engine, which was also 1.200 cc, but more modern. It yielded 58 CV, which was not a gain that can be taken into account, but it did win in refinement, consumption and response. Shortly after the arrival of this engine, the three-speed automatic gearbox made an appearance, the one millionth Renault Twingo was manufactured and the LPG version was launched.
All these versions, on the other hand, were, to put it in some way, the happiest. The interior was colorful, with details in color similar to green "turquoise” (Renault called it Apple Green) and was characterized by the front seats, which gave it one of the names used by the brand itself: the sleeping car. Those seats folded flat and sat in line with the rear bench.
In 1998 the Renault Twingo 2 arrived (it was called that commercially), the restyling, which focused on small aesthetic details, such as slightly different headlights and body-colored bumpers. Internally, the front is reinforced to improve safety in case of impact. Things are changed on the dashboard and as in the first series, things are added as marketing progresses. The most interesting is the arrival of a more powerful engine, the most powerful the Twingo ever had, the 1.2 16v block (D4F) with 75 CV. Shortly after, the five-speed Quickshift gearbox arrived and in 2002 two million Twingos were manufactured. Until the cessation of production, minimal things were added.
Touring Australia
Small and simple, but also versatile and reliable, because if it weren't reliable, there wouldn't be as many left on the road and, furthermore, Australia wouldn't have been driven through Australia with a standard Renault Twingo, or almost, because different tires were fitted to the original ones (more appropriate for the roads where it would drive) and installed a skid plate and a steel tube front bumper.
This venture was the idea of a French journalist named Jean Dulen. He began his journey in Sydney, in 1994, and was accompanied by a cameraman. In total, there were two people who crossed Australia, a journey that ended in September 1994 after having traveled 240.000 kilometers without major problems, beyond the typical ones due to use and some minor detail, something unavoidable given the complicated conditions of the route. To celebrate the completion of the adventure, local artist John Moriarty of Balarinji Design was asked to create a commemorative artwork and then 'print' it onto the car. The end result was called Twingo Dreaming and was inspired by Aboriginal ancestry and the Australian natural landscape.
In 1995, a documentary about such a crazy trip was released, which was called “Ay pays des Kangourus” and the Twingo from that trip, with decoration included, is in the National Museum of Australia, after buying the car from Dulen himself, who kept his Renault Twingo for more than 20 years and used it until it covered more than 300.000 kilometres.
Twingo V6, the spark for the Clio V6?
The Renault Twingo was, without a doubt, a success, but there is also no doubt about his personality and his spirit. Definitely not a car for enthusiasts, although that is not to say that an enthusiast is not attracted by the goodness of the little French egg, as was the case with Alex Breun. This name may not sound familiar to you, but surely a project he worked on sounds familiar to you: the Renault Clio V6.
Breun was apparently totally into the Twingo, but felt that its engines were not up to the task of the rest of the car and were disappointing. Like many fans, he thought that mounting another, more capable engine in the Twingo could make the model even more interesting. So he got to work on the idea and found a car that could be a good match: the Daihatsu Charade GTti. This Japanese model, whose first edition appeared in 1980, had a very strong personality and things like a sign on the side moldings, which read “TWINCAM 12 Valve TURBO”, were quite a statement of intent.
Under the hood was what Breun was really interested in, a 993 cc three-cylinder engine, which thanks to its four-valve cylinder head and the adoption of a turbo, it produced 101 hp at 6.500 revs and 130 Nm of torque at 3.500 revs, being, in addition, capable of reaching 7.500 revolutions. It had a specific power of 102 CV/L and was capable of completing 0 to 100 km/h in 8,5 seconds and reaching 180 km/h.
That engine might be what the Twingo needed, but when he got down to business. Some electronic problems appeared, forcing the idea to be scrapped. But it is one thing to discard an idea and quite another to cancel the project, which, by the way, was a personal project without the collaboration of the brand.
Therefore, instead of giving up, he took another path to achieve a more powerful Twingo and found a curious detail: the Ferrari 308 had a wheelbase almost identical to that of the Twingo, with a difference of only five millimeters (2.345 millimeters from the Ferrari, compared to 2.340 millimeters for the Renault). As if that were not enough, as Breun himself commented in a video, the 308 was not very wide, but the Twingo was a fairly wide car for its category in the 90s.
"The good thing was that the Ferrari came from a different period, so the tread was not as wide, whereas the Twingo, for its category, was a very wide car."
However, he was never able to complete the project and “fuse” the body of the Twingo with a rolling frame from a Ferrari 308. On the one hand, he persuaded Renault to give up an unused Twingo frame and although he did on occasion have the opportunity to purchase a crashed Ferrari 308, never obtained the necessary funds to make his idea a reality.
The fact is that the sketches that Breun had made for his project had caught the attention of many colleagues at Renault, including Mr. Patrick LeQuément. At that time, a form of promotion was being sought to improve the sporty image of the Renault Clio, something that LeQuément took advantage of to resume the Breun project and put it into production. However, it was not about the Twingo, but about the Clio and, moreover, animated by a V6 3.0 engine from the organ bank for the Laguna.
Twingo Trophy, huge!
The idea of putting a more capable engine in the Renault Twingo was not exclusive to Alex Breun, far from it. There is everything scattered around the world, but one project in particular stands out above the rest: Lazareth's Renault Twingo Trophy V8, an absolutely crazy car that, in the end, does not have much of a Twingo because the transformation is brutal.
Based in France, Lazareth is famous for creating some crazy things like a motorcycle with a seven-cylinder radial engine and transverse crankshaft or the disproportionate Lazareth Wazuma, a quadricycle that can mount a V8 from Ferrari or a V12 from BMW, and with the Twingo they went the same way. They took a 8 V3.5 of Range Rover origin and installed it on the small French model, although, as expected, the necessary changes to install such an engine were numerous.
To begin with, the engine is placed behind the front seats, since it was unfeasible to place it where it usually is. This change transformed the Twingo to propulsion, with a five-speed manual transmission. To reinforce the structure, a cage was made with steel tubes and the car was widened considerably.
The bodywork, for many, can be a real aberration and, in part, they will be right. But what is certain is that this Twingo does not go unnoticed. However, do not expect benefits either "crazy", because the V8 Range Rover, after a revision and update, only yields 200 CV... Yes, that's a lot for a Twingo, but the weight and the deformation to which it is subjected, increase the weight and reduce the agility of the model. A smaller, supercharged engine, like Alex Breun's brainchild, would have done much better.
