The arty Twin-Z concept points the
way to the third-gen Renault Twingo, which becomes rear-wheel drive
This Twin-Z concept (say Tit Twin-zee)
previews the look and drivetrain of the third-gen Renault Twingo city car. The
breakthrough news is a platform shared with Daimler’s next Smart and the swap
to a rear-engine, rear-drive chassis. We hear Renault are plotting a late 2014
launch for the new Twingo. There’ll be petrol and electric models, priced below
the $19,500 Zoe EV. A RWD Renaultsport is a possibility.
The
arty Twin-Z concept points the way to the third-gen Renault Twingo, which
becomes rear-wheel drive
She’s electric
The Twin-Z packs a tweaked Zoe drivetrain,
with four floor-mounted lithium-ion batteries juicing a 69-PS electric motor
atop the rear wheels. Production Twingos will get conventional engine versions
too, sharing rear-drive gubbins (and more besides) with Smart’s comeback
ForFour.
Concept wackiness
A stream of LED lights ‘flow’ over the
Twin-Z from front grille to rear bumper. Mobile discotheque? Not, says design
collaborator Ross Lovegrove. “Passengers are hooded in a high-tech environment
that bathes them in a light which responds to the Twin-Z’s energy.” If that’s
not mad enough, the rear spoiler is fashioned from crystal.
Dude, where’s my dashboard?
Talk about a minimalist concept to maximize
space: the Twin-Z ditches a dashboard completely, with twin Samsung tablets
mounted front-and-center to control all functions. LED light strips are
embedded through the door panels and those super-minimalist seats, for the full
trippy rave club effect.
Art attack
British designer Ross Lovegrove helped
dream up the Twin-Z. Lovegrove worked for Sony and Apple in the 1980s before
creating nature-inspired art. Recent projects? A solar-powered luxury yacht and
car, the latter in conjunction with Cambridge Uni. Nature represented here by
the seaweed-alike 18-inch rims and recycled cabin trim.
Suicidal tendencies
Twin-Z’s party piece is its
electrically-opening suicide doors, like a Mazda RX-8’s. The idea will be
killed (ahem) for production, so all MkIII Twingos will, for the first time,
boast of five doors. At 3.62 meters long, the Twin-Z concept is a hand-span
longer than the current Twingo and 30 kg heavier, despite its one-off
carbon-fiber bodywork.
