Renault Twingo (2012) the facelifted French city car

Renault has just released this solitary photo of the revised Twingo supermini, which will be unveiled in full at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show in September. It’s all part of the PR thrust – because if you weren’t revved up about the facelifted Twingo, then this single picture is bound to get you very excited, right?

We agree. It’s Renault’s first production car to be inspired by the company’s latest design language (there’s no catchy name for the new style; instead design boss Laurens van den Acker has simply been charged with making products from La Regie sexy again). On the Twingo that means new bumpers and lights with a bigger Renault logo, and while not visible in this picture, the upright rear end has gained additional light clusters integrated into the bootlid. Result? A rather decent looking little supermini.

There’ll still be a Renaultsport version powered by a 1.6-litre petrol, and the turbocharged 1.2 TCe unit remains, but the new 0.9-litre triple that was previewed in the R-Space concept will be saved and first appear in 2012’s all-new Clio.

UK sales of this new Renault start in January 2012, and from here on out it’s all change: Renault and Mercedes are co-developing the next Twingo and ForTwo, so the third-gen French runabout (due in 2014) will be rear-engined and rear-wheel drive. 

By Ben Pulman