Renault appears to have started development work on a new, higher performance version of the recently unveiled Twingo. An uprated Twingo sporting a new air intake at the front and dual exhausts at the rear has been spied testing.
The rear-drive model, which made its debut at the Geneva motor show earlier this year, arrives in the UK in August to compete with the likes of the new Citroen C1, Toyota Aygo and Peugeot 108 models as well as its sister car, the Smart Forfour.
Although the warmer variant could take some styling cues from the outrageous Twin'Run concept seen in 2013, it is unlikely to be a full Renaultsport-fettled RS-badged model when it goes on sale.
Speaking to Autocar at the Geneva show, Renault's head of small car development Benoît Bochard said it was difficult to make a compelling business case for a Twingo RS: "The last Twingo RS was great to drive, but not a success in sales terms. It was too expensive – customers did not want to pay £15k for such a small car. An RS version wouldn't sell."
However, Bochard said at the time that more powerful turbocharged engines were a possibility for future Twingo variants: "We have more powerful turbos in the engine range, so there are possibilities for the future if we decide to go that way."
While engine details for this new variant are currently unknown, the most powerful version of the standard Twingo runs a newly-developed three-cylinder 0.9-litre engine with 89bhp and 100lb ft of torque, mated to a five-speed manual transmission.
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Renault should learn why the Twingo RS was not successful
A new Twingo RS would be able to take advantage of the lack of hot city cars with its rear-engined layout and a power output comparable to the Suzuki Swift Sport.
Such a shame there will be no