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Twizy in Oz
But Renault's 'urban mobility' champ is here to gauge reaction – not start a revolutionRenault's redoubtable Twizy – the car that looks like an enclosed mobility scooter with a steering wheel – has turned up in the foyer at the importer's Dandenong (Vic) head office.
An alternative to the same answer posited by Toyota with its i-Road, the Twizy delivers practical, affordable motoring for buyers who have little space for a car at home and/or need transport that can navigate tight laneways and parking spots.
This particular example has just arrived in Australia to showcase the technology and the concept, according to Emily Fadeyev, Renault Australia's corporate communications manager.
"At this stage there still is no homologation category for Twizy, as it is a quadricycle," she confirmed with motoring.com.au yesterday.
"It's in the country because it's such an impressive leadership story for the brand. It's an opportunity for us to demonstrate one of our very cool technologies to the Australian public, and... we are also using it to open conversations about 'could it be possible in the future to homologate this vehicle?', but... we're in the very early days of that."
Based on Ms Fadeyev's following remarks, the Twizy was never really intended for our wide, brown land, as such. But in our highly urbanised society it would make a lot of sense for inner urban commuters who loathe the thought of being drenched while riding to work on a scooter.
"Twizy was designed... as an urban mobility solution after Renault did a study of London, Paris and Rome – and looked at the occupants; what they wanted, what the future of mobility might look like in those places. That's how Twizy came about."
All well and good, but the Twizy cannot be road registered in Australia. We don't have the ADR (Australian Design Rules) category for it. It's not a car, nor a bike – and we don't have a category for quadricycles as the Europeans do.
"In terms of for Australia, we actually had a huge amount of ad hoc requests from customers, approaching us... 'How do we get a Twizy, when could we get a Twizy?'
"So we know there's a lot of interest out there, but we are conscious that a change of legislation and a new homologation category would be a slow burn."
Would Renault consider lobbying government through the FCAI to get cracking on a quadricycle category?
"I think there could be potential, and certainly, we're open to all discussions and conversations that could be had. But I don't think it would be something that could happen quickly."
Renault is probably in no tearing hurry, since the market in Australia for a vehicle like the Twizy is hard to determine. Even if Renault could sell them here by the thousands, what sort of profit would that yield – from a vehicle with such a low purchase price?
For the moment then, Renault Australia is content for the Twizy to fill a space in the head office foyer – and not much more. But if the legislation does change, and the Twizy is viable, Renault is comfortable it would place a lock on its own market niche.
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Written byKen Gratton
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Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
If the price does not contain the notation that it is "Drive Away", the price may not include additional costs, such as stamp duty and other government charges.
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