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Feann Torr26 Nov 2014
NEWS

Renault's fastest road car selling fast

Aussie buyers snapping up hardcore Renault Megane RS 275 Trophy-R, despite $65K asking price

If you want to get your hands on Renault's fastest ever production car, the Megane RS 275 Trophy-R , you'll need to get your skates on.

Renault has already sold 11 of the record-breaking vehicles in Australia, where a total of just 50 will be available – accounting for no less than 20 per cent of the 250-car global production run.

Although Renault says pricing is expected to be in the "mid-$60,000" bracket, there is no firm price for the vehicle and final specifications are yet to be confirmed for Australia, where deliveries will take place between late December 2014 and early 2015.

The Trophy-R will be powered by an updated version of Renault's 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine, pumping out 201kW (275hp) and 360Nm – enough for a claimed top speed of 255km/h and 0-100km/h acceleration in 5.8 seconds.

Other changes to the ultra-rare Trophy-R model include the deletion of the rear seats, the inclusion of a lithium-ion battery, Recaro bucket seats, lighter and larger brakes, composite epoxy front springs and a titanium Akrapovic exhaust — all of which reduce the car's weight by 101kg, to 1280kg.

Renault says Australia-bound models will be "maxxed out" in terms of specifications, meaning even the adjustable Ohlins dampers will be part of the package. The car will be Renault's most powerful and fastest production car, after cementing its place in history in mid-2014 as the world's fastest front-wheel drive production car around the Nurburgring (Nordschleife) road circuit, with a lap time of 7:54.3.

Closer to home, of the 7981 vehicles sold by Renault in Australia so far in 2014, almost 1000 were Renault Sport (RS) models — a whopping 11 per cent of its total volume. Suffice to say, the Aussie appetite for Renault hot hatches is huge.

In fact, Australia has leapfrogged Japan to become the world's second largest market for the Renault Sport high-performance sub-brand, and now lies second only to France.

"In Australia RS has grown immensely in popularity," says Renault Australia Managing Director, Justin Hocevar.

"The recent success of Renault Sport in Australia has set new records locally but now we’re the second highest-selling country for RS in the world in 2014," he added.

Hocevar observes that Australia's love affair with high-performance cars and the French car-maker's strong range of hot hatches, including the Clio RS and Megane RS lines, has "spurred" demand in this country.

Australia has a reputation for punching above its weight with regards to sales of high-performance vehicles, including those from Mercedes-AMG, Audi quattro and BMW M cars, not to mention hot hatches from brands like Peugeot, Ford and Volkswagen.

Renault is also offering a less extreme limited-edition version of the latest Megane dubbed the RS 275 Trophy.

It doesn't get the Ohlins dampers, epoxy front springs or weight reduction features, because they would have made the car too expensive and are being saved for the Trophy-R, says Renault.

However, it does come with the hard-core seats, the Slovenia-made Akrapovic exhaust, Speedline 19-inch alloy rims and beefed-up '275' 201kW engine.

Just 100 of the cars will be offered in Australia, from a global total of just over 1000 units, and already 25 examples are spoken for. The regular Trophy will be available in yellow or white paint and is priced at $52,990 plus ORCs.

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