Renault Twingo (1993 - 2007)

Renault asked project director Yves Dubreil to come up with a small car that was compact, practical, economical and comfortable – but not a direct rival to its big sister, the upcoming Clio. Twingo’s conception was dictated by the ‘design to cost’ philosophy and the team’s mission was to propose a compact car, with pioneering, attractive styling at a reasonable price. To achieve that, the only solution was to take a completely different approach with the aim of making life easier... Strip out the superfluous and replace it with unique innovations such as the sliding rear seat.

Commercial launch of Twingo, following a preview several months earlier at the Paris motor show. Launched with only one trim level, and four colours, coral red, indian yellow, coriander green and overseas blue, at a price of 55,000FF, or around £6000. Right-hand drive production initially promised, but quietly dropped.

A Frenchman covered 240,000km in a Twingo across the harsh Australian outback, demonstrating the reliability of this car whose talents were not restricted merely to city motoring. At the end of the journey, the car was painted by an Aboriginal artist.

New colours introduced and minor interior changes.

Launch of Twingo Easy equipped with a manual gearbox but no clutch pedal.

Launch of the limited-edition Twingo ‘Benetton’ and Twingo’Matic versions, fitted with an automatic three-speed gearbox. Moreover, the engine was boosted by 5hp to reach 60hp.

New 1149cc engine from the Clio replaced the previous engine, which was used in the Renault 5. Also, various improvements made including the addition of a third brake light.

First major restyling of Twingo with upgrades to the chassis, seats, dashboard, lights and front bumper. Introduction of the limited-edition ‘Elite’ version. Primary safety much improved.

Launch of the top-of-the-range ‘Initiale Paris’ version.

More styling tweaks for the Twingo, with larger wheels and some revised interior parts.

Launch of the 1.2-litre 16V, 75hp powerplant first seen in the Clio.

A new semi-automatic gearbox, called Quickshift, was fitted to the range.

Further revisions to the range, with new interior trim and wheel covers fitted to freshen up Renault's oldest car.

The third revision to the range — the Renault logo is fitted to bootlid, as it is across the range, new side rubbing strips fitted, making it more Paris-friendly, and new colours launched.

Appearance of the ‘Kiss Cool’ limited-edition.

Production of the last Twingo 1 in Europe following some 2,075,300 sales over a career that lasted 14 years – an exceptional lifespan by car industry standards.

Twingo continued to be manufactured in Colombia until 2012. Between 1995 and 2012, Twingo achieved tremendous success in the Colombian market, notching up sales in excess of 100,000. Twingo Tatoo was Twingo 1’s final limited-edition version.