Patrick Le Quément's Renault Mégane II

As this Wikipedia entry mentions, Renault has been producing a series of cars with the Mégane name since 1996.  The Mégane of interest to this post is the retroactively named Mégane II, in production from 2002 into 2009.

The Mégane II's design is one of those I strongly associate with Renault's powerful styling boss Patrick Le Quément (Wikipedia entry here).  It is quite similar in spirit to the Vel Satis concept car, and somewhat less so to the production Vel Satis.  I dealt with them here.

Le Quément in the early 2000s was trying to have Renaults look French, not as knockoffs of the increasingly internationalized style that was robbing cars of their origin-county identities.  He even made a point of hiring non-French stylists who he thought might understand a French look better than native French stylists -- analogous to fish not really understanding their watery environment.

Le Quément's French-look experiment eventually faded, and the 2009 Mégane IIIs had less quirky styling.  Nevertheless, the Mégane II (along with the Vel Satises) was an interesting approach to automobile design, as can be seen in the images below.

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This view from above shows the Mégane's unusual shape most clearly.  The distinctive features are at the rear, and are the similar curves of the rear window, the strike panel (bumper) and character fold towards the bottom of the hatch.  These curves are not functional in a mechanical sense, instead functioning in a marketing sense.  That is, they are highly distinctive; I can't offhand recall anything quite like this on any other non-Renault production car.  (Some cars such as SUVs with station wagon (break) type bodies have rear ends that are curved in plan-view,  but in profile they are essentially vertical, unlike the Mégane II.)

The Mégane IIs front combines a curved overall shape with crisp details.  The lower air intake is disjointed from the above-the-bumper features.

Rear 3/4 view of a four-door Mégane II.  The aft side window, being part of the door ensemble, works much better here than in the two-door version shown in the image below.

The aft side window on two-door Méganes does not tie into the overall theme while seeming to somewhat restrict outward vision for rear-seat passengers.  For some inexplicable reason, Honda used a similar design on its 2007 CR-V crossover SUV line.

Another rear view.  A problem here is that the curved parts mentioned above do not blend very well with the rest of the car.
It happened that I rented a Mégane II in the fall of 2003, driving various places from Paris to Vienna and back.  Yes, it was quirky, but it did a good job.

Styling Variety: 1930s French Cars

During the 1930s General Motors' styling boss Harley Earl would travel to Paris to visit the annual Salon de l'Automobile.  It was a serious focus to what might seem to some a frivolous enjoy-Paris corporate junket.  That was  because fashion-conscious France was a hotbed of car styling ideas that Earl wanted and needed to be aware of.

And there were many automobile makers in France, even in the depth of the Great Depression.  For example, the mid-decade 1935 Paris salon had 27 firms exhibiting passenger cars.  Those 27 firms produced only about 170,000 cars that year, and 3/4 of those were from the "big three" -- Renault, Citroën, and Peugeot.  The remaining manufacturers averaged about 1,550 cars that year, which makes me wonder how they could afford to keep body designs even halfway fashionable.  The largest firm, Renault, produced around 58,000 cars that year, yet marketed ten lines of cars using what seems to be three basic bodies -- which also seems like a small basis for product renewal.

Regardless, French car styling from the 1930s was innovative and varied.  Admittedly, this was especially the so for custom-built bodies, but also was the case for factory models.  The images below are mostly of standard production cars.

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Bucciali Double-Huit - body by Saoutchik - Paris Salon 1931
This car was intended to astonish, something it still does 85 years later.  It has a underslung chassis, so it sits low.  The low stance is further emphasized by the large wheels and extremely long hood.  Not to mention the low-headroom passenger compartment.

Voisin C 20 - Paris Salon 1931
Many of Gabriel Voisin's designs also astonish.  His C 20 and C 22 models feature radically disaggregated components.

Voisin Aérodyne - Paris Salon 1934
This is a pre-production car, but essentially the same as the few that were built.  Here Voisin edges towards aerodynamic shaping on his way to the 1936 Aérosport.

Citroën Traction Avant - 1956
The Traction Avant line was introduced for 1934, and its design was virtually unchanged even by 1956, the year before it was replaced.  The body is low because it lacks a driveshaft and also a chassis, being of semi-unitized construction.  One French styling fashion in the late 30s was the belt line drooping towards the rear, as can be seen here.

1935 Renault Nervastella Grand Sport
Unlike the Citroën, this top-of-the-line Renault is tall.  And it also has a somewhat streamlined appearance that's negated by the formidable grille-hood combination.  Note especially the the highly-sloped, V'd windshield: advanced for 1935.

Peugeot 402 - ca. 1939
The 402 first appeared for the 1936 model year and, like the Renault above, featured a streamlined look.  The body aft of the cowling seems inspired by the 1934 Chrysler Airflow.  For me, the most intriguing feature is the headlamps buried behind the grille.

1937 Hotchkiss 686 Coupé Modane
By the mid-1930s Hotchkiss' were solid looking cars.  Attractive, slightly conservative styling for its bourgeoise clientele.  I am especially fond of the grille design that relates well to the fenders.

1937 Panhard Dynamic
The ancient firm Panhard et Lavassor developed styling senility in the early 30s with its Panoramique three-piece windshield design that progressed to the strange Dynamic model shown here with its central driving position.  "Creativity" does not necessarily produce good results.

Talbot-Lago T 155 SS by Figoni & Falaschi - ca. 1938
Finally a fabulous "Goute d'eau" (teardrop) Talbot-Lago custom that's marred by having spats over the front wheels.  Most similar Talbots had exposed front wheels.

Renault Fuego: Streamlining Disguised

Renault's Fuego (1980-1986 in Europe) was a four-passenger sporty car whose shape was refined by wind tunnel testing into a fairly low drag coefficiant, a relatively uncommon practice in those days.  More background can be found here.

Aerodynamic efficiency is problematic for stylists because many potential shapes are ruled out.  Furthermore, aerodynamic shapes tend to be rounded, yet there is a strong school of styling thought holding that cars should appear trim, crisp, taut.  One compromise is to have the overall shape aerodynamically efficient while including trim, crisp, taut details in places irrelevant to aerodynamics.

This was done when the Fuego was designed.  Otherwise, it might have seemed somewhat dumpy, as was the case of the 1993 Ford Mondeo that had plenty of rounded details including windows and grille.

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1982 Fuego advertisement by American Motors
Fuegos were sold here in the USA thanks to an agreement between the Régie and American Motors.

Fuego - side view
The strong black trim emphasizes tautness and distracts from what actually is a rather bulky passenger compartment shape.

1983 Fuego - front 3/4 view
If you click to enlarge, you should be able to see that the black strip running along the car's shoulder is ribbed and thereby attracts the eye more than a flat piece of plastic might -- further distracting from the fundamental body shape.  But the body itself has some crisp features including the sharp folds on the top and edges of the hood.

1983 Fuego - rear 3/4 view
The ribbed black strip runs around the back of the Fuego, helping to pull the eye from the massive backlight.  The character line along the middle of the side takes a dip at the rear wheel opening.  This is a subtle detail because an unbroken horizontal line would not meet the intersection of the bumper and tail light assembly.

Renault's Conventional Post-War Frégate

The Renault Frégate (1952-1960) was the Régie's first post- World War 2 mid-market sedan.  It followed the small, rear-engine 4CV that I discussed here.

Background on the Frégate is here.  It seems that Renault was working on a rear-motor car larger than the 4CV, but the project was wisely abandoned and the conventional Frégate was initiated in 1949.  That meant Renault stylists were aware of the post-war 1948 Oldsmobile, 1949 Chevrolet and Chrysler line fender designs, and created their version.

The result was a bland, 1949-vintage design that was slightly behind the times when the first production models were announced for the 1952 model year.  Even so, the Frégate's styling was more advanced than the competing Peugeot 203 that I wrote about here.  But it was only on par with Ford SAF's Vedette that debuted in the spring of 1950 and which made use of the 1949 Mercury's design theme.

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These are publicity photos of 1951 pre-production Frégates.  The most noticeable differences from 1952 models are the shape of the bumpers and grille bar details.  Both of these images came from the same photo shoot: note the windows in the background.

The Frégate as seen from on high.  Again, the same car in both images.  I like the long hood, though front overhang is a bit long for its era, but common in modern front-drive times.  Frégate's layout was conventional front-engine, rear drive.

Another publicity photo of a 1952 Frégate.  The negative aspect of the long hood is a passenger compartment that seems a bit cramped despite Renault's claim that six passengers could be accommodated (see previous image).

For 1955, Frégate added the Amiral line shown here.  The grille was redesigned and a chromed stone guard was added to the rear fender.

The American baroque two-tone paint scheme disease struck the Frégate by 1958.  Yet another What Were They Thinking? moment.

American Motors' French-Based Eagle Premier

The car itself was normal, but the organizational circumstances surrounding it were not.  It's the Eagle Premier (model years 1988-1992) developed by American Motors using technology from its part-owner Renault.  But around the time it was introduced, American Motors was acquired by Chrysler, which was mostly seeking American Motors' Jeep line.  Eagle Premiers were marketed by Chrysler for several years, some as Dodges, but the car was unsuccessful in terms of sales.

That and more is dealt with in this Wikipedia entry that mentions the styling was by Giugiaro.

Eagle Premier styling is not distinctive, being one of many clean, "three box" efforts by the Italian master in the 1970s and 80s that look pretty much the same at first glance.  Perhaps the main difference from other ItalDesign creations was that it was larger due to its being for the American market.

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Renault 21

Renault 25
These Renaults furnished mechanical and other parts for the Eagle, but not complete bodies.

1989 Eagle Premier
A brochure spread when it was a Chrysler product.

1989 Eagle Premier
A glimpse of the rear styling.

1990 Dodge Monaco
The Eagle Premier in Dodge clothing; note the badge-engineered grille.  "Monaco" was a model name long-used by Dodge and probably slapped on the car to legitimize it as a Dodge.

Renault Loved Pontiac, Hudson and Chrysler in 1942

As World War 2 raged, car makers did something that in many cases they weren't supposed to do: plan post-war models.  This was a particularly difficult undertaking in France because much of the country was either occupied by German forces or subservient to Germany until late 1942 and completely occupied from then until the 1944 liberation.  The Germans used French industry to assist in their war production, and postwar French automobiles were not part of their agenda.

Nevertheless, Renault and other manufacturers had clandestine development programs underway.  Here we deal with design work done largely in 1942 on a potential postwar 14 CV Primaquatre (Type 104 E).  Source material is from Automobilia hors-série No. 26, Toutes les voitures françaises 1940-46: les années sans salon by René Bellu.

What I find most interesting is the borrowing of styling themes from Pontiac, Hudson and Chrysler by Renault's stylist Robert Barthaud.  The United States was neutral regarding the war until late 1941, so information on U.S. cars through 1942 models (introduced fall, 1941) was available in France.

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Renault 104 E prototype - 1st version
American influence is strong.  The main source here seems to be the 1939 Hudson with perhaps a whiff of 1940 Ford. Note especially the front fenders and grill compared to Hudson styling seen in the photo below.

1939 Hudson

Renault 104 E prototype - 1st version
But it's not all Hudson influence.  Those sure look like Pontiac's legendary Silver Streaks running down the hood centerline and over the grille.

1939 Pontiac grille
This narrow version of Silver Streaks is similar to what Renault seems to have borrowed.

Renault 104 E prototype - 2nd version - profile drawing
Hudson influence disappeared on the second version 104 E prototype and 1941 Pontiac details predominate.  Compare to the image below.

1941 Pontiac Custom Torpedo

Renault 104 E prototype - 2nd version
The running prototype differed from the drawing in that the Pontiac-like crease across the rear fender was eliminated.

Renault 104 E prototype - 2nd version
Pontiac influence ceased on the front end and borrowing shifted to 1941 Chryslers, as can be seen in the image below.

1941 Chrysler Royal - sales photo