Renault V6 rocket still a chance

RENAULT Australia is still hopeful of securingthe Clio RenaultSport V6, although it hasabandoned plans to have any of thehatchback rockets here in the near future.

RA had hoped to have some exampleshere by Christmas but Renault's decisionto update the car to match the facelifted"cooking" versions has scotched that plan.

Launched in Europe last year and previewedhere at the 2001 Melbourne motorshow, the TWR-developed, mid-engined,rear-drive, 3.0-litre Clio packs a WRX-beating166kW of power at 6000rpm andweighs in at a paltry 1335kg.

The six-speed V6 super-hatch, said todeliver 0-100km/h acceleration in theorder of just 6.4 seconds, has beenapproved for low volume import under theSpecialist and Enthusiast VehicleScheme, which allows manufacturers toimport up to 100 vehicles without theneed to complete high volume ADR certificationtesting.

A target price of about $60,000 for theV6 Clio had been mentioned, althoughthat is now a moot point with a rescheduled arrival date far from being confirmed.

In fact there seems to be some debatebetween Renault Australia managingdirector Leon Daphne and company directorRichard Wilson over whether the carshould come at all.

"I suspect we will be interested in it in alimited form," Mr Daphne said.

"We are in a bit of a debate because Ithink we should concentrate on the 2.0-litre (Clio Renaultsport).

"I think we need to get the Clio rangeestablished and we've got a damned good2.0-litre sports version to help us do thatso I don't think we need to do too muchwith the V6," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Daphne and Mr Wilson guaranteedat the recent Clio range launchthat supply problems which had hurtRenault Australia's sales in 2001 wouldnot re-occur next year.

RA looks likely to fall about 1400 salesshort of the 3500 target for 2001 andblames that on late arrival of the Clio andthe setback of the Laguna V6 compactprestige range to March.

While the manual-only Scenic RX4 all-wheeldrive had not lived up to salesexpectations, both the Scenic andMegane cabriolet look like exceedingsales forecasts for 2001.

The company isaiming for 5000 sales in 2002 and 8000 in2003 when the all-new Megane range, theVel Satis flagship and some lightcommercials are added to the lineup.

"There won't be a problem with supply,I am very confident that has beenresolved," Mr Wilson said.