Photo: Renault
As those of you reading our editorial section will have heard, the Geneva Motor Show was awash with brand new city cars this year. From the new Twingo to the PSA-Toyota triplets, there are plenty of models with the potential to become best-sellers. That's especially true about the new Renault, which has heritage of over 20 years and has been completely reengineered together with the guys at smart.
While Peugeot, Citroen and Toyota have set their ambitions pretty low, Renault seems anxious to put its new city car on sale. The company's European chairman Stefan Mueller hinted much is expected in the sales department.
In an interview for Autonews Europe, he said the following ""I would like to see the Twingo in the number two spot in this segment."
The Fiat 500 is a very old model, but with 160,000 sold last year, it sold more than twice as well as the Twingo, which only came in number four in the charts, behind the Fiat Panda (152,404 sales) and Volkswagen Up! (129,754 sales).
We don't want to rain on the Renault parade, but considering how many new cars have been launched in the segment, it seems unlikely they'll be able to double sales, even though the design and architecture recommend the Twingo.
While the French will be competitive, Philippe Klein, Renault’s product planning chief, hints that it will be by no means cheap: "[the price] will be competitive but will respect the value of the product, like we did with the Clio and Captur." That to us sounds like prices will be higher in the first year of sales, before incentives start being offered.
Klein has made it very clear that an electric version is not being developed. The official said the platform could easily be turned into an EV, but Renault has four electric models in its range already and for now there's no need to add another.
The same platform used by the Twingo will also spawn the new smart fortwo, which is widely expected to offer an electric drivetrain, potentially even at launch. smart has been a champion of electric mobility schemes. While development of such a model could be done jointly, Renault's failure to sell the recently-canceled Fluence Z.E looms as a constant reminder that electric mobility has not yet been adopted.
Via Autonews Europe
In an interview for Autonews Europe, he said the following ""I would like to see the Twingo in the number two spot in this segment."
The Fiat 500 is a very old model, but with 160,000 sold last year, it sold more than twice as well as the Twingo, which only came in number four in the charts, behind the Fiat Panda (152,404 sales) and Volkswagen Up! (129,754 sales).
We don't want to rain on the Renault parade, but considering how many new cars have been launched in the segment, it seems unlikely they'll be able to double sales, even though the design and architecture recommend the Twingo.
While the French will be competitive, Philippe Klein, Renault’s product planning chief, hints that it will be by no means cheap: "[the price] will be competitive but will respect the value of the product, like we did with the Clio and Captur." That to us sounds like prices will be higher in the first year of sales, before incentives start being offered.
Klein has made it very clear that an electric version is not being developed. The official said the platform could easily be turned into an EV, but Renault has four electric models in its range already and for now there's no need to add another.
The same platform used by the Twingo will also spawn the new smart fortwo, which is widely expected to offer an electric drivetrain, potentially even at launch. smart has been a champion of electric mobility schemes. While development of such a model could be done jointly, Renault's failure to sell the recently-canceled Fluence Z.E looms as a constant reminder that electric mobility has not yet been adopted.
Via Autonews Europe
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