Limited-edition Clio RS ‘Angel & Demon’ for Oz

ONE day after it released a special Summer Edition version of its Megane Cabriolet, Renault Australia has returned to the same well by unveiling a limited-edition take on its Clio RS baby hot-hatch.

The French brand’s Australian operation has been allocated 40 examples of the Clio RS ‘Angel & Demon Edition’, which brings added menace to its diminutive firecracker.

The car will hit local showrooms in March priced at $39,990 plus on-road costs – $1000 more than the current top-spec Clio RS200 Trophee and $3500 more than the entry-level RS200.

Aside from the model’s exclusivity – Renault has made only 666 examples of the little devil for sale across 15 markets worldwide – the car is differentiated from its siblings by a number of cosmetic accoutrements and technical enhancements.

These include two new matte colours – Hologramme Grey and Toro Red – as well as contrasting gloss black colouring on the roof, upper tailgate, rear spoiler, tail diffuser, door-handles and mirrors.

The distinctive Formula One-style blade mounted in the front bumper is also finished in the same glossy black, while the rear and rear-side windows get darker tinting. There’s also an Angel & Demon ‘tattoo’ decal, which adheres to the left-hand side C-pillar.

The car is fitted with the same glossy black ‘Interlagos’ 18-inch wheels as the previous-generation Renault Sport Megane R26.R Edition, shod with sticky Bridgestone RE050A hoops – a first for the brand in Australia.

These are the same tyres as those fitted to the Renault Sport 265 Trophy, which took out the front-wheel drive lap record at the Nurburgring circuit in June last year.

Peeking from behind the new 10-spoke alloys – which have an RS badge in the centre – are the same blood red Brembo brake callipers as found across the rest of the Clio RS range.

Inside the cabin are leather-lined versions of the snug Recaro racing seats from the flagship Clio Cup Trophee, alongside a unique metal-finished gear knob and a numbered plate lurking beneath the handbrake.

Standard equipment includes a hands-free key card, Bluetooth connectivity, a multimedia connection box, the Renault Sport on-board telemetry system, automatic climate-control and electrically-folding mirrors.

The sparkling 148kW/215Nm 2.0-litre engine found in other Clio RS models is unchanged, and is matched with a six-speed manual gearbox.

Renault Australia is no stranger to offering limited-edition versions of the Clio hot-hatch like the Angel & Demon.

Last March, the brand announced it would offer 30 examples of the AGP RS 200 Edition, which was finished in the same yellow and black paint scheme as its Formula One car.

It also launched the Gordini Edition Clio – which featured unique blue paint with white stripes and a number of trim changes – in November 2010.

The Clio sport was one of the few models in Renault’s local line-up to not undergo solid sales growth in 2010, with the 71 units sold for the year representing a 45.4 per cent drop over the previous year.

Just three examples of the car were sold here in the first month of 2012.

As we have reported, the brand experienced overall sales growth of 89.9 per cent in 2011, making it one of the fastest growing car retailers in Australia, thanks to influx of new models like the Megane range and the Fluence and Latitude sedans.

While the hot RS is the only variant of the current-generation Clio currently offered in Australia, this is likely to change once the next-generation version emerges at the Paris motor show in September this year.

Renault Australia managing director Justin Hocevar previously told GoAuto the brand is working on returning more garden-variety variants of the light car range to the local line-up to tackle the VW Polo and Peugeot 208 from around mid-2013.

Renault Clio R.SAngel &amp Demon (plus on-road costs):
Angel &amp Demon	$39,990