Photo: Budget Direct
Back in May, seemingly out of the blue, American car group FCA officially submitted a proposal to merge with French carmaker Renault. After about a week of torment, FCA dropped the request citing opposition coming from French politicians. But had the deal succeed, how would the jointly developed cars have looked like?
This is the latest "what if?" question Australia-based insurance company Budget Direct decided to answer. They came up with 9 Fiat-Chrysler-Renault cars that could have been made if the "proposed transaction" would have made it through.
Of the nine, we find the Renault Megane Hellcat to be the most exciting. The car is a mix between one of America’s favorite ponies, the Challenger Hellcat, and one of Europe's best selling hatchbacks, the Megane.
Imagine a car equipped with the Hellcat 6.2-liter V8, but this time tucked inside the more fluid body of the Megane, pumped-up by a bonnet with double scoops and revised parts for better aerodynamics.
But how about some more. Say FCA donated some Trailhawk DNA to Renault’s Dacia Duster or the Koleos? How would these two have looked like?
You can see in the gallery above some other FCA-pumped Renault cars, like the Alpine A110 SRT, Renault Master Overland Campervan, Fiat 500 RS, and the Renault Talisman Widebody.
In Budget Direct’s imagination, the French would have had much fewer goodies to bring to the collaboration table, and we could have ended with cars like the Dodge Ram ZE or even a Dodge Twingo.
Luckily -or sadly, depending on where you stand on this – FCA failed to convince the French and their Japanese partners from Nissan that a tie-up is the best way to go.
Had they done it, the resulting company would have had combined sales of around 8.7 million vehicles annually and access to nearly any market imaginable.
Of the nine, we find the Renault Megane Hellcat to be the most exciting. The car is a mix between one of America’s favorite ponies, the Challenger Hellcat, and one of Europe's best selling hatchbacks, the Megane.
Imagine a car equipped with the Hellcat 6.2-liter V8, but this time tucked inside the more fluid body of the Megane, pumped-up by a bonnet with double scoops and revised parts for better aerodynamics.
But how about some more. Say FCA donated some Trailhawk DNA to Renault’s Dacia Duster or the Koleos? How would these two have looked like?
You can see in the gallery above some other FCA-pumped Renault cars, like the Alpine A110 SRT, Renault Master Overland Campervan, Fiat 500 RS, and the Renault Talisman Widebody.
In Budget Direct’s imagination, the French would have had much fewer goodies to bring to the collaboration table, and we could have ended with cars like the Dodge Ram ZE or even a Dodge Twingo.
Luckily -or sadly, depending on where you stand on this – FCA failed to convince the French and their Japanese partners from Nissan that a tie-up is the best way to go.
Had they done it, the resulting company would have had combined sales of around 8.7 million vehicles annually and access to nearly any market imaginable.
Google News