Reading about the Renault Twingo E-Tech, an EV not available in the US, and

SQUEEEEEE

#cars #ev #renault

@flargh My wife has a Renault Australe SUV hybrid at the moment, and it is really good car. When my hated ID.5 goes back, Renault EVs are going to be high on my test drive list.
@davidbcohen Renault left the US market the year I graduated high school. πŸ˜’
@flargh The US car market is so weird.

@davidbcohen Renault didn't have a dealer and service network or supply chain in the US, so they partnered with AMC, which was already on the ropes. Georges Besse's assassination didn't help their US aspirations.

Chrysler had the capital to acquire AMC, bought Renault out, and decided to focus exclusively on developing AMC's Jeep brand, which has been part of that organization (now Stellantis) ever since - and a quintessential American auto brand.

@davidbcohen Chrysler briefly sold the Renault US-made cars as Eagles and kept that brand alive for other designs through the 90s.

Chrysler/Stellantis has resurrected AMC brands every once in a while ever since - most recently, I believe, with the Dodge Hornet (a reskinned Alfa Romeo Tonale that was discontinued recently after an appallingly short 3-year run).

I'd love to see them take a higher-end coupe and reboot the AMC Javelin, but not with anything made by Alfa Romeo, because they suck.

@flargh Stellantis brands in the UK are Citroen, Peugeot and Vauxhall (and even Jeep, but no). They are all a bit meh. Had a Pug 3008 recently when the VW was off the road - nice interior, but a bumpy, jerky drive, gruff engine, weak economy for a hybrid and infotainment so unintuitive I think Alan Dye was involved.
@davidbcohen @flargh We had a Peugeot 208 rental to go to Bayeux and back from Paris in December 2024. I thought it was a fun little car to drive.
@tomdar2 @flargh There is much on the market that is better, is all.
@davidbcohen @tomdar2 I once sent an email to Peugeot to compliment them on a clever advertisement and got a message back from their marketing department, attributed to Jean-Luc Picard. Cheeky.
@flargh @tomdar2 They should have known better, given that famous Frenchman was brought to life by a Yorkshireman trained by the Royal Shakespeare Company
@davidbcohen @tomdar2 JLP in Peugeot marketing replaced this guy, who was fired by HR for sexual harassment.