Spy Shots: Renaultsport Twingo 120
Anyone who knows hot hatches knows that Renault is king. While other championship-winning automakers put their racing experience into six-figure supercars, Renaultsport puts its into grocery-haulers to turn out such splendidly chuckable pocket-rockets as the Clio 197 and Megane 225. Evidently firmly entrenched in the belief that good things come in small packages, Renault's performance racing division is turning its attention to the company's latest - and smallest - little Euro-runner, the redesigned Twingo.
These candid spy shots show that the Twingo has clearly been hitting the gym, with flared wheel arches and new bumpers. Power is tipped to come from a reworked version of the Twingo GT's 1.2-liter turbocharged four, massaged to produce 120 hp, 20 more than stock and hitting the magic 100-horsepower-per-liter mark. That'd be good for a 0-60 run in about 8.5 seconds, and with an anticipated UK price tag of around £12,500 it'd make a solid competitor to the likes of the Suzuki Swift Sport, Fiat Panda 100HP and Ford SportKa.
Speculation says it will be unveiled at the upcoming Geneva show in March, and based on the apparent readiness seen in the spy shots, we'd call that a good bet and will bring you more from the show floor in three months' time.
(Via Autoblog.)
