The Renault Zoom was a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

created by

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and wea ...

and

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

and was first introduced at the 1992

Paris Motor Show The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...

. The small 2-seat car had a length of and a width of . The Zoom was powered by a 45 kW (61.2 hp)

electric motor An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate forc ...

. It was unique in having fold up rear wheels resulting in a shorter length when parked. Width remains constant at 1.52m, which means Zoom is higher in retracted wheelbase configuration. 2

scissor door Scissor doors (also called flap doors, wing doors, beetle-wing doors, turtle doors, switchblade doors, swing-up doors, upswing doors, Lamborghini doors, and Lambo doors) are automobile doors that rotate vertically at a fixed hinge at the front ...

s mounted on inclined axes reduce lateral bodywork clearance to a minimum and make Zoom easy to use in the tightest of spots. The Zoom was an urban and suburban

born of common research by

and

into modern

electric car An electric car, battery electric car, or all-electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one or more electric motors, using only energy stored in batteries. Compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric cars are quiet ...

s. The Zoom was a relatively early venture into the world of city runabouts and utilised an electric power system in addition to a variable wheelbase. The engine is 90 percent recyclable. A communication centre mounted between the two seats houses a hands-free telephone and power-up control for Carminat navigation system. The concept for a variable wheelbase

city car The A-segment is the 1st category in the passenger car classification system defined by the European Commission. It is used for city cars, the smallest category of passenger cars defined. A-segment sales represent approx. 7-8% of the market in ...

was revisited by the

MIT CityCar The CityCar or MIT CityCar is an urban all-electric concept car designed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. The project was conceived by William J. Mitchell and his Smart Cities Research Group. It is now led by Kent L ...

and applied in the development of the Hiriko folding two-seat urban

. It did not go into production due to it being a

concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...

but also not attracting serious interest going into

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

References

{{Renault Matra vehicles

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for imag ...

Electric concept cars Front-wheel-drive vehicles Cars introduced in 1992 Subcompact cars Hatchbacks