The Thinker's Garage Pondering Automotive History, Design and Culture

The Thinker's Garage
Posts Tagged ‘Renault’
Meet the world’s most intrepid Renault Twingo
Meet the world's most intrepid Renault Twingo

The Twingo I was a very successful car for Renault, offering a popular combination of usefulness, affordability, and above all, character, which ensured it enjoyed a long and successful production run. Indeed with almost 2.5 million made in Europe over a 14 year period, alongside additional sales and production in South America, they are still […]

Where to for smart?
Where to for smart?

It started with such feather-ruffling promise: when the smart City Coupe broke cover in 1998 it changed Europe’s streetscape with its tiny footprint, clever design, innovative engineering and cheeky attitude. It hit its target market and by 2001, with the cars only officially available in some Western European markets, smart sales were well over 100,000 […]

Small cars – Simple pleasures
Small cars - Simple pleasures

As nice as it is to have all the modern comforts in a car, sometimes the sheer number of features found in so many new cars does seem to be overkill. Although this kind of technology is very impressive in the showroom, in the real world, when longevity and ease of use become more important […]

The fascinating world of Matra road cars
The fascinating world of Matra road cars

It’s amazing how marketing and press can alter the way history is perceived. Some of the older car brands still trade in some ways off their pre-war successes, and many still make a point of making sure we remember racing success achieved through the 60s and 70s. But there are lots of amazing stories one […]