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| Renault 4, 17, 5 - images by Tarek Chemaly of existing cars in Lebanon |
Renault has just launched electric versions of Renault 5 (here), Renault 4 (here), Renault 17 (not up for production yet along with designer Ora Ïto - here), and Twingo (here). Like any Lebanese, the emblematic Renault is part of my past. Take Renault 12 (here) - it was so ubiquitous one would be mistaken it was assembled in Lebanon. Sure sure, you might classify me as a retro lover who refuses to see new versions of his beloved models. But seriously, if you do look at the newer models, they are stripped from their soul. The cute R5 is completely beefed up, the R4 bigger and Longer, the Twingo thankfully retrains its lovely headlights but there is a lot of lost-in-translation elements, thankfully it was the strong hand of Ora Ïto that kept the R17 incredibly faithful to its roots.
Yet, whereas I can find the cars above "nice" generally, and whereas I am by no means a motoring specialist, I do have questions about the end outcome - the first is "why"? If you are going to tap nostalgia why bastardize it so bad it becomes unrecognizable? If you are indeed tapping it, for whom? If it is to target people of a certain age, who remember driving such vehicles, they are actually - chronologically advanced at this point. GenZ? Really, them? The generation who will find a fault (ethical, economical, etc....) in anything? Look, am sure the bigwigs at Renault have thought it over, and I truly loved their E-van ad (here) but liking an ad is one thing, and having the past repackaged without a frisson is another.