Twingo Merci

The original Twingo was launched in April 1993, was sold in Europe's LHD markets until August 2007, and received intermediate restylings in 1998, 2000 and 2004. It was never sold in RHD markets.

Designed under the direction of Patrick Le Quément, Renault's chief designer.The car derived from a series of concepts developed through the W60 project when Gaston Juchet was Renault's chief designer. The project was aimed at replacing the Renault 4 with a minivan model.

Le Quément chose a Jean-Pierre Ploué design to develop the production version. He included an unconventional front end layout resembling a "smile." The interior equipment was mounted on a central console to free space. Renault had participated in the 1981 to 1984 'Mono-Box' ECO 2000 car project, along with PSA Peugeot Citroën and the French Government.

The Twingo I's electronic centrally mounted instrument panel had a speedometer, fuel gauge, clock, odometer and trip recorder controlled via a stalk located button. A strip of warning lights was located behind the steering wheel. The rear seat featured a sliding mechanism, to enable either increased boot space or rear seat legroom. The boot parcel shelf was attached to the inside of the tailgate, and lifted with the tailgate — or could clip back against the rear window when not required.