>They made the right decision. The Avantime is just too ahead of its
time for
>the North American market, we are not ready for it yet.
I disagree somewhat. While I accept that the Avantime is radically
different to anything else on the U.S. market, I think there's a pretty
sizeable number of people who are basically disaffected with the current
offerings in this country. Not a huge number, mind, but certainly
noticeable.
>Funny thing about the clinical trials... I put my name and address on
the
>Avantime page on the Renault site, and received a promo card in the
mail.
Hm. I never got mine. Oh well.
>When the DS was first shown in Paris, it was also ahead of its time,
the
>difference was that was Paris, this is the USA.
Good point. But it's also worth noting that the DS was Citroen's
best-selling car here, and managed to avoid the (IMHO) ill-founded
reputation that 'all French cars suck'. The DS is a car that even
almost half-a-century after its introduction has no real comparison or
rivals in the modern market, quite similar to the Traction Avant before
it. Any time I drive a modern front-wheel-drive car, I find myself
inevitably comparing it to the DS.
I'm also of the opinion that the reason cars like that seem difficult to
sell is that none of the manufacturers responsible for them are present
in this country anymore. If Peugeot came back with Citroen as the
upmarket brand (similar to Honda and Acura), I think the cars would sell
reasonably well. I'd also hope that they'd spur some of the U.S.
manufacturers to rediscover good engineering practices; there have been
no truly interesting cars on the US market since the 1966 Olds Toronado,
IMHO.
>I can't envision too many
>people that would drive a Mini-van sports coupe. (well, besides myself)
Understood. I'm 26, single, no kids, and would buy one partly because
it's a Renault and partly because it *is* different, but not in the
contrived way that cars such as the Toyota Yaris/Echo and Ford Focus
are. The Avantime, to me, actually is both a stylish and practical
vehicle. I would want it for two things: 1) wafting me from California
to Las Vegas quickly and comfortably, and 2) lugging French car parts
around.
>I think the Renault Espace would be a much better vehicle to rebadge as
a
>Nissan or Infiniti. With the Espace, you can actually use the words
sexy and
>minivan in the same sentence.
True. The new Espace is actually an attractive vehicle, something I
find hard to say about any of the umpteen-million cookie-cutter minivans
I always seem to be stuck behind in the fast lane of the 880.
On a related note: I wonder whatever happened to the Renault Initiale
and Vel Satis? The Initiale would've had me whipping out my chequebook
at whatever motor show it was exhibited at and ordering one on the spot,
such were its looks. The Vel Satis was a bit more subdued, but a
decent-looking car nevertheless.
Incidentally, the rumour mill has it that Peugeot is considering either
a 3.5l, 250bhp version of the 3.0V6 in the Coupe or possibly a 3.7-4.2l,
280bhp V8 for the 406 Coupe 2 if it makes it to the U.S. market. The V8
would also be used in a flagship version of the Citroen C6 / Peugeot 607.
- Cameron.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon 24 Apr 2000 - 01:29:52 UTC