Renault will axe the Twingo city car from its UK line-up, citing a desire to simplify its model range.
A facelifted Twingo will go on sale in the next few months, but Renault has confirmed that a right-hand-drive version for the UK won't be introduced.
A spokesman said: “Renault UK has decided to not commercialise the Twingo [facelift] in the UK right-hand-drive market when this vehicle launches across Europe in the first half of 2019.
He continued: “The decision is due to commercial reasons that align with Renault UK’s policy of having a simpler choice of versions for customers – as demonstrated with the recently introduced Easy Life specifications on Renault Clio, Renault Captur, Mégane, Renault Scénic and Renault Koleos models – and allowing a greater commercial focus to be placed on the range of all-new models and powertrains coming in 2019 and beyond as outlined in Groupe Renault’s Drive The Future mid-term business plan.”
Sales of the current Twingo peaked in 2015, with 5555 units sold in the UK. Since then, sales have declined dramatically. In 2018, just 877 Twingos were sold here.
The Twingo is part of the declining city car segment, with rivals including the Citroën C1 and Volkswagen Up also having lost ground over the last couple of years. In Europe last year, the Twingo sold 77,326 units, while the C1 sold 53,292 and the Up 100,715.
These entry-level cars are also notoriously hard to make profitable, and Renault is likely to perceive that UK sales aren't worth the return on investment.
The Smart Forfour, which shares its underpinnings with the Twingo, is unaffected, according to a Smart UK spokesman.
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Renault Twingo
Yet another Renualt model leaves the UK market,personally I thought that it was quite an innovative model with the rear mounted engine and RWD. It had a pretty good interior space and the GT version had a fair performance,basically it did as much as the Smart For Four but at a significantly lower price, be interesting to see if the For Four goes as well
Surprising but if you stop
Surprising but if you stop promoting a car then sales will decline. I love our Twingo, it is great around town will do 80mph all day on the motorway. The only issue I have is the fuel gauge is all or nothing but fortunately, the miles to refill is very accurate.
centenary wrote:
Renault UK never really seemed interested in it; there were never any great offers and typically it was more expensive on finance than a Clio.
However I do know that Twingo II was never profitable and in general small city cars aren't and given the all new rear engine and rear drive platform of Twingo III I can imagine it was expensive to produce.
They are also very expensive to service and there have been a few electric reliability issue with them too.
it won't be missed.
humphrey the pug wrote:
I would like to know more about that. If you can tell me it would be much appreciated.
Shame. My husband and I have
Shame. My husband and I have the Smart Forfour that is the Twingo relative. As a city car, it is very good. Turning circle is spectacular, its keeps up with traffic, and is cheap to run, despite having climate and cruise control as standard. Little bit of a struggle out of town, but can sit comfortably at motorway speeds. Problem is, for not much more on monthly deals, and sometimes, for a lot less, you can get the Sandero and Clio, both of which are much bigger cars to the Twingo.
But then isn't the whole
But then isn't the whole point of the Twingo that it's smaller than the Sandero and Clio? People buy city cars for their smallness, not because they can't afford something bigger.