A few days after Renault announced that two of its new concept cars, the Zoe ZE and the Twizy ZE Concept would be scheduled for launch in a few years, the French-based automaker has also announced that it would once dust-off the Gordini brand and add it to the Renault Sport range.
The announcement of the expected debut of the Twingo Gordini RS will be held at the L’Atelier Renault on the Champs Elysées on November 25.
The Gordini brand rose in popularity in the 60’s where over 200,000 units were sold at that time. The brand’s popularity crossed mainstream thresholds after the car appeared in a number of French films during the decade.
After riding off into the sunset shortly thereafter, Gordini is motoring back to give a new generation of car buyers the chance to sit behind the wheel of one of Renault’s most popular cars. To retain the classic look of the compact car, Renault has made it clear that it would uphold the Gordini tradition. What this means is that the cars styling – including the off-center double stripes that was a trademark of Gordini back then – will likely stay the course. Renault has still to shed light as to what drivetrain the new Gordini models will have and the announcement will more than likely happen on the 25th of November, the day the Twingo Gordini RS is unveiled in France.
First it was BMW. Then Toyota followed next. Now, it looks like Renault is headed out the door too.
Renault’s F1 team executives met in Paris recently and rumors have spread that the French-based company is contemplating on following Toyota in leaving Formula One.
After a tumultuous – and that’s an understatement – season that involved the sacking of team principals Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds, Renault is now looking at the possibility that participating in Formula One may not be in their best interests anymore.
Although the meetings have gone on continuously, an announcement is not expected in the coming days because the company, led by president Carlos Ghosn, is scheduled to have an event promoting the brand’s new direction in introducing zero-emission vehicles, as evidenced by the recent news that the Zoe Zero Emissions Concept will be launched in 2012.
In the event Renault does pull the curtains on their F1 tenure, it would make them the third team from the 2009 grid to leave Formula One, following the recent departures of BMW and Toyota.
By our count, that’s now four major teams – including Honda last year - that have left Formula One in the past year and we’re beginning to fear that this could be the beginning of what is already becoming a mass exit out of the sport.
Renault revealed today the ZOE Z.E concept electric car - a preview of the Renault production vehicle set for launch in 2012. The Zoe Z.E. is a 100% electric, zero-emission city car.
The car can be fast recharged in 20 minutes, while a standard charge takes between 4 to 8 hours. The concept features an exclusive "Quickdrop" system that allows an empty battery pack to be swapped with a fully-charged pack in a matter of minutes.
The roof has been designed as an intelligent protective membrane that insulates against heat and cold, optimizes climate control, and recovers energy using honeycomb photovoltaic cells. The car features a
shield of polyurethane gel at the front and the back, acting as a second skin that protects vulnerable parts of the body in the event of mild urban impact.
Putting a Range Rover engine on a Renault Twingo isn’t exactly an everyday occurrence, yet custom tuners Lazareth decided to have some fun and do just that.
While you’ll never mistake the French compact car for a luxury SUV, it does make for some awesome thrills to have the miniscule front-mounted engine the Twingo used to come in for a more powerful variety. As a result, the Twingo has been updated with a 3.5-liter V8 180 horsepower mid-mounted engine that conveys its power to the Twingo’s rear wheels through a five-speed manual transmission.
It took a lot of work, especially since a Twingo doesn’t exactly fall in the same line as that of a Range Rover. To fit the luxury SUVs engine on the hatchback, Lazareth modified the Twingo’s chassis by adding a rear tubular subframe, brand new suspensions, modified brakes, to name a few.
The result, as you can expect, is a hatchback that packs more power than Twingo could have ever had with a standard configuration. If the upgraded engine wasn’t enough, Lazareth also gave the Twingo’s interior a plush racing upgrade with MOMO bucket seats, a sports steering wheel, and new digital gauges.
With a new engine and an overall upgraded look, the Lazareth-tuned Twingo, which they’ve come to call as the Twingo Trophy V8, sells for around €70,000, or in the language of US dollars, around $105,000.
When Romain Grosjean replaced the departed Nelson Piquet Jr. in the cockpit of one of Renault’s F1 cars, he probably didn’t imagine the perks that came along with it. One of the said perks is being able to test new Renault cars before they get sent out to dealerships.
Recently, the French driver took the all-new 2010 Megane RenaultSport 250 out for a run at the Nurburgring and much to our good fortune, the company took a video of it for us to scrutinize…I mean…enjoy.
Powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine, the Megane RS can produce as much as 250 horsepower with its power being channeled through a six-speed manual tranny straight towards the front wheels.
There are a lot of things that we envy about F1 drivers. From the prestige to the ladies to driving unreleased cars, F1 drivers – whether you’re a contender or not – have it good.
Although everyone knew how it will look like and what is capable of, the Megane RS made its official debut today at the Geneva Motor Show. With an addition 25 hp and a choice of sport suspensions, the new Megane RS will go on sale later this year.
The new Megane Renault Sport is powered by a new-generation 2-litre 16-valve turbocharged petrol engine which boasts maximum power of 250hp at 5,500rpm and peak torque of 340Nm from 3,000rpm. It is available with a choice of two chassis: the ’Sport’ chassis or the ’Cup’ chassis, which comes with a limited slip differential for even greater traction.
It also features: front bumper that incorporates the LED daytime running lights, 18-inch aluminium alloy rims, central exhaust tailpipe and rear diffuser. On the interior the RS features sports seats, analogue rev-counter with visual and audible gearshift indicator, aluminum pedal cover and RS logo on the headrests, rev-counter background and dashboard.
Some people protest that the rest of the world gets really cool cars while we here in the U.S. are subjected to watered down versions of automobiles that are more fun to drive in other parts of the globe. Unfortunately for domestic drivers, Renault hasn’t sold a new car in the U.S. since the 1980s so we will never know the joy of driving a Twingo, just saying the name is fun. Adding to an already great product, the French manufacturer has decided to churn out a few stripped down lightweight examples of one of Europe’s favorite hot hatches.
Just like Hyundai’s upcoming Genesis Coupe R-Spec, the Renault Twingo RS 133 Cup is a more affordable variant of a sporty economy car that comes with a few key components that makes the more expensive models great while ditching a few unnecessary items to keep costs down. Aimed at delivering a more focused driving experience with less equipment and a lower price, the factory tuned Cup car will go on sale in places like Europe and South America starting in November, starting at around $17,000. The Renault Twingo RS 133 Cup keeps Renault’s optional sport suspension that lowers the car almost an inch and a half while incorporating firmer dampeners and a set of springs that are about ten percent stiffer than the factory coils. You also get a set of 17 inch lightweight aluminum alloys wrapped in sporty rubber, but you don’t get a few things like air conditioning and the Twingo’s signature sliding rear buckets; however you can get Glacier White bodywork with a few accents done up in glossy black.
Even though the RS 133 Cup has all the proper equipment to go fast around the bends, it is still powered by a 133 HP 1.6 Liter four cylinder and takes all of 8.7 seconds to go from 0 to 60 MPH on its way to a 125 MPH top speed. Now those performance numbers aren’t quite that impressive, but we can guarantee you that it gets great gas mileage. Perhaps a few of these factory tuned lightweight econoboxes would go a long way towards breathing a healthy dose of fun into an automaker’s lineup while helping out their CAFE situation at the same time.
The French automaker Renault has just unveiled the the Kangoo Z.E. Concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the third of Renault’s four electric vehicles that accoding to the company will go into production by 2011, and the the Kangoo Z.E. Concept is the one intended for everyday use.
The concept is powered by a 70 kilowatt motor delivering a maximum of 226 Nm of torque. Power is derived from a lithium-ion battery, that with a full recharge have an autonomy of four to eight hours, while a 20-minute quick charge you can take a short trip around the house.
With a weight of only 1520 kilos, the Kangoo ZE can hit a top speed of 130 km/h.
The second of the four electric concepts unveiled by Renault in Frankfurt is the Zoe Z.E. - a perfect car for school or work run, or shopping trips. The Zoe ZE is powered by an electric motor that delivers 95 HP and 166 lb-ft of torque. With this motor, the Renault Zoe ZE can reach a top speed of 87 MPH.
With a length of 4,10 meters, the Zoe Z.E. features rather large 21 inch wheels and large body panels, a retractable spoiler deploys at speeds in excess of 55 MPH to make a further contribution to Zoe ZE Concept’s aerodynamic efficiency and also serves as one of the car’s brake lights.
The Zoe Z.E. concept’s dashboard is covered with an intelligent, mineral like membrane and the lightest of touches calls up a range of touchscreen controls while the wide TFT (Thin Film Transistor) screen is housed in a glass bubble. This is the central information point for Zoe ZE Concept and serves to display navigation data, the charge indicator and remaining range.
By now, you’ve probably heard of the latest scandal circulating around the F1 paddocks these days.
If you haven’t, here’s a brief refresher course. Recently sacked Renault driver, Nelson Piquet Jr. released a statement saying that he was instructed to intentionally crash his car at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix in order for teammate Fernando Alonso to move ahead of the pack and win the race.
Now, a hearing is scheduled to take place on September 21 to determine whether or not Piquet Jr’s statement really did happen. For their part, Renault team bosses Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds have vehemently denied any wrongdoing and attributed their former drivers attempt to smear their team as a sign of retaliation after being unceremoniously fired last month.
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