Concept car for new Renault Clio

Renault Sport have unveiled a new concept car: The Clio R.S.16 is the highest performance Renault Sport road-going vehicle ever and its launch celebrates both 40 years of Renault Sport and Renault’s return to Formula One as a constructor.

“Our aim was to produce a concept car with genuinely outstanding performance credentials,” said Patrice Ratti, managing director of Renault Sport Cars, leader of the project, which particularly inspired the development team’s specialists.

“On paper, producing a Clio R.S. powered by our most potent engine — namely the 275-horsepower, two-litre power unit, which delivers peak torque of 360Nm — was an extremely appealing idea, but we had to make sure it was feasible,” he said.

Thanks to new working procedures involving teams from the worlds of motorsport and road cars, the development of the highest-performance road-going Renault Sport car ever took just five months from start to finish.

Finding the ideal way to house the engine, transmission, and cooling system of the Mégane R.S. 275 Trophy-R was a significant challenge. The exhaust system was also revised as a function of the engine’s potential, while the suspension was engineered to match the car’s outstanding performance characteristics. Careful attention was paid to the sound produced by the car, too, and an Akrapovi?c twin exhaust system was selected.

The design and development team dealt successfully with the constraints inherent in the Clio R.S. 16 project (body widened by 60mm, 19-inch wheels and optimisation of the engine cooling system) to produce an expressive, sporty stance. The result is enhanced by an LED R.S. VISION chequered-pattern lighting signature featuring exclusive multi-faceted reflector technology.

Renault Sport’s trademark Liquid Yellow has been combined with gloss black details to mirror the livery of Renault Sport Formula One Team’s R.S.16 F1 single-seaters.