The Renault Fiftie was a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...

presented by

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

at the March 1996

Geneva Auto Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised b ...

to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of the 4CV. The concept used a bright metallic yellow color, honoring the 4CV's "butter pat" nickname. Styled by Benoît Jacob under the direction of Patrick le Quément, Renault's vice president of corporate design at the time, the Fiftie used a mid-engine/rear-wheel-drive layout, with its exterior styling drew heavily on its ancestor's — though with a two-door, mid-engine configuration rather than the 4CV's four door, rear-engine/rear-drive layout. The Fiftie was part of a trend toward retrospective designs, including the VW New Beetle,

Mini Cooper Mini Cooper may refer to: *Performance Cars of the original Mini series with uprated drive train and brakes, called the "Mini Cooper", made by the British Motor Corporation and also the successors 1961–1971, and 1990–2000 *Cars of the Mini (mar ...

and

Fiat 500 The Fiat 500 (, ) is an Economy car, economy / city car that was manufactured and marketed by Fiat Automobiles from 1957 until 1975. It was sold as a two-door semi-convertible or saloon car and as a three-door panel van or estate car. Launched ...

Overview

The Fiftie used an aluminum frame from the Renault Sport Spider and a carbon fiber body. Its interior used

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...

, and

rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan (from Malay language, Malay: ''rotan''), is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the clos ...

extensively, with a picnic basket concealed in the boot/trunk. Front styling recalled the horizontal chrome 'mustache bars' of the original 4CV, with the addition of distinctive apostrophe-shaped headlights. The targa-style roof used four removable roof panels that could store beneath the flat-folding rear window. The Fiftie was fully roadworthy, sharing most of the Renault Sport Spider's chassis, suspension, and mechanics as well as Renault's D7F 1.2-liter, 8-valve four-cylinder engine, which was subsequently introduced as a production engine in the Twingo. After introducing the Fiftie,

chose not to develop the concept further.

References

External links

Article with photos of the Renault Fiftie
{{Renault Fiftie Retro-style automobiles