European minis are not only common and boring, but also difficult to market and sell. Taking this into account, the French at Renault did a bit of lateral thinking. Instead of looking at what everybody else is doing, their inspiration came from what they had already done!
The third generation Twingo, just revealed in Geneva, is not a better version of the second but a modern version of a classic, the R5 Turbo. Just like Mazda of old, the Twingo is designed with an actual face, a cute one at that. That's good… considering its name is a combination of the words "Twist", "Swing" and "Tango".
The new city car is definitely something different. But only if you place the R5 Turbo and the new Twingo side by side do you realize there the commonalities are. A strong rear shoulder is present, just like on the Clio 4, but it's flat not curved like on the bigger model. Another similarity to the R5 is the angle of the rear windshield and the near-flat boot that follows it. If you think about it, not a lot of cars are designed this way. The shape of the taillights also resemble the air extractors Renault put on their rally cars.
Csaba Wittinger was in charge of designing Renault Twin’Run, the concept car from 2013 which later influenced Twingo 3. He recently revealed that Lauren van den Acker, Senior VP of Design, gave him approval to take the 5 Turbo inspiration into account and with the 20/20 benefit of hindsight, we have to agree he was right.
"The very first one was probably a miniature car my brother had. I still was a kid at that time but this rally car was so strong, extreme and beautiful at once that it definitely influenced me, until today. I loved watching Ragnotti drive it. When he won the championship with an R5 Turbo, a Hungarian driver took the third place, also with an R5 Turbo. That’s part of why in Hungary, where I’m from, it was a very popular racing car. I love Ragnotti, and I was so proud that he drove Twin’Run [which Csaba designed] and liked it! As a rally pilot, he instantly made the connection with his former R5 Turbo. For me it’s a great achievement, and it would make me so proud if this Twingo goes into history as being a heir to the R5 Turbo," Csaba Wittinger says about his first encounter with the R5 Turbo.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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