If you're a girl who just wants to have fun -- and drive a subcompact -- the new Renault Twingo Miss Sixty might be the car for you.
Following the Paris Motor Show tradition of French automakers debuting vehicles that are as much about style as substance, this Twingo may be a little more pedestrian than, say, the Peugeot EX1 we told you about earlier this week, but it's just as bizarre.
If you've ever been to Paris, you've seen the Twingo. It's a bug-eyed hatchback that's usually crammed by the dozen into the most improbable of parking spaces. With the Twingo Miss Sixty, Renault is betting that a marketing agreement with a brand best known for designer denim will help sell the tiny car to women.
According to Renault, "A seductive temptress with an ironic and offbeat sense of humor, Twingo Miss Sixty is 100% feminine!" But just how do they make a car "feminine"? Do they poll female buyers like Volvo did with the YCC concept? Is their design team run by a woman like with the Ford Probe? Nah -- but they do offer pink paint.
With a pink-and-black interior and exterior paint choices of "Bohemian Pink" or "Pearlescent Black," you'd be forgiven for thinking that Mary Kay's top sellers had all moved to France. The steering wheel has pink stitching and even the gauge cluster has pink trim. And since all women love pink, the Twingo Miss Sixty is sure to be a hit when it goes on sale at the end of November. Riiiiight.
Judging by history's reception of the Probe and the Dodge LaFemme (and Homer Simpson's reaction to the Canyonero F-Series) we can't imagine that a car that alienates most male buyers -- and probably most female buyers -- will be a huge success.
Photo: Renault
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