Car Of The Day: May 2, 2012

Today's car of the day is Norev's 2004 Renault Wind.

The Renault Wind is a roadster by the French automobile manufacturer, Renault. The Wind was originally a concept car unveiled on September 2004 at the Paris Motor Show as a 2+1 roadster.
On February 2, 2010, Renault announced that the Wind would enter production. It was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show on March 2, 2010. The production version is a 2 seater, as opposed to the 2+1 seating of the concept car.

In December 2011, Renault announced that the Renault Laguna, Renault Espace, Renault Kangoo, Renault Modus and Wind lines would be axed in the United Kingdom as part of a cost-cutting plan to help the company earn a profit.

This change took effect in February 2012. The Laguna, Espace, Kangoo, Modus and Wind lines are still available in Europe.

For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Renault Wind

This was acquired from bangerkid45 (thanks Jon!) at the Keystone CARnival this year.  It represents the 2004 concept but the production car (surprisingly this car was only released in 2010!) is very similar.  The lag time from concept to reality makes the new Camaro's lag time look like a rushjob.

The concept Wind's design is like other Renault vehicles such as the performance versions of the Clio and Mégane. The production Wind, however, is heavily based on the Twingo, evident in its overall size and stance, and also it's semi-circular door handles exactly the same as those on it's Twingo counterpart. The steering wheel and pedal assemblies in the concept are adjustable and fold away automatically when the door is opened for easier access. Producer is Erdenechulun.

The production version is styled very similarly to the concept car, however some changes have been made, such as a roll bar behind the seats, a spoiler, and other minor changes. The Wind features a one piece metal roof, that rotates 180° backwards (much like the Ferrari 575M Superamerica), as opposed to being made of several pieces like many other metal roof convertibles. Renault claims that it takes 12 seconds to fold the roof away, which is quite quick compared to most convertibles.