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| The 1.6-L Renault Fuego Turbo wasn't designed with the American market in mind and concurrently didn't sell well. The less expensive 2.2-L non-turbo version did much better. |
It's common knowledge that the French build the smoothest riding suspensions in the world, or at least they used to. I worked for AMC (American Motors for those of you who were born yesterday) back in 1984 when it was controlled by Renault. You couldn't find two companies more diametrically opposed than these, reflecting in their diverse products. AMC built relatively small cars - for a domestic producer - with big engines while Renault built, well, relatively small cars with tiny engines.
I remember when the Renault Fuego Turbo was introduced. The base Fuego had a 2.2-L 4-cylinder with decent get up and go for the era, but the Turbo came with a 1.6-L engine. What were they thinking? It was a complete dog anywhere under 5,000 rpm - where most Canadians drive - and only started to get reasonably exciting approaching 6,000. Needless to say the dealers didn't sell very many, even though the regular Fuego achieved fairly decent volume.
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| Renault's new Mégane II has just won the European "Car of the Year 2003" award, but would its art car styling be appreciated in North America? |
But that was then. Renault, that currently owns a 44.4% portion of Nissan, will probably meet its full-year target of a 2% operating margin. It's enjoying increased marketshare throughout Europe and on top of that, its new radically designed Mégane II has just won the European "Car of the Year 2003" award, granted by an international jury of 58 automotive journalists. It's the fifth time that Renault has won. They, like Nissan, are on a roll.
That's why the company is considering re-launching its brand in North America after 2010, according to Chairman Louis Schweitzer as reported in Reuters. Schweitzer confirmed that Renault wouldn't be returning to the North American market before 2010 due to the success there of the firm's Japanese partner.