Bonjour or Konichiwa - what do Renault's Japanese salespeople say to their customers? We don't know, but they're probably very hospitable, skilled specialists because car sales have been increasing steadily over the past five years. With the all-new Twingo finally arriving in the Land of the Rising Sun, we see no chance of the trend reversing.
In bright yellow paint and with black stickers all over, the third-generation city car made its appearance at the Tokyo Motor Show last week. Also making its local debut was the re-tuned Clio RS 220 Trophy model, equipped with a more powerful engine and faster gearbox.
The current generation of the Twingo city car made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in 2014, over one year ago. With help from Daimler's smart car division, the French switched from a front-engined, front-wheel-drive configuration to an RR one, something that's extremely rare for volume cars.
Two engines are available in Europe, a 1-liter naturally aspirated unit with 71 horsepower and a 0.9-liter that has 50% more torque thanks to a single turbocharger. Both engines are mounted at a 49% angle from the vertical plane to conserve boot space.
In Japan, new Twingo models will become available in early 2016, but only with the most powerful engine that delivers 90 PS and 135 Nm of torque (100 lb-ft). Because Japanese drivers are spoiled for choice, Renault will also have to include the EDC automatic gearbox as standard.
We told you that the new Clio Trophy is being launched in Japan, but that's not 100% accurate. Here, the Clio is not sold under its own name, so we're dealing with the "Lutecia RS Trophy" instead. However, its specs stay the same at 220 PS plus 260 Nm of torque (191 lb-ft).
The final new arrival Renault has lined up for the market is called the Megane RS CUP-S. It comes with a 273 PS version of the 2-liter turbo engine, 19-inch Turini black wheels, Brembo brakes and Akrapovic titanium exhaust. Only 60 units will be sold.
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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