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Renault 18
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18
Vehicle Model
A car produced by
Renault from 1978-1989.
History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Renault 18 page on 23 July 2021, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Renault 18 is a large family car produced by French manufacturer Renault between 1978 and 1989, with South American production continuing until 1994. It formed the basis for the closely related Renault Fuego Coupé, with which it shared its floorpan and drivetrain, but with the Fuego initially using the negative offset type front suspension from the larger Renault 20/30, which became standardized across the 18 range from the 1983 model year onwards.
The Renault 18 was intended as a replacement for the Renault 12, which, having been in production since 1969, was beginning to show its age by the late 1970s, though the 12 was kept in production alongside the 18 until 1980. Unlike the earlier car, the 18 was designed quickly; the time between its initial conception and its actual launch date was only eighteen months, primarily due to the fact that the 18 was based upon the 12's underpinnings. Production peaked early: 1979 was the R18's biggest year, after which sales began a gradual decline. Originally, the 1.4 was the most popular model, but this soon changed to the 1.6. By 1986 the largest, 2-liter engine represented the biggest portion of production.
Although Renault made numerous forays into international markets in countries such as Argentina with the 12, their first true "world car" was their 18, hence the slogan Meeting International Requirements, which (as well as in France) would later be produced in ten other countries and four continents around the world. In 1981, the Renault 18 was selected by India's massive public sector car manufacturing project Maruti Udyog to be built there at a rate of 100,000 cars per year - including a pickup truck version meant to compete with small Japanese trucks. However, after closer review and at the direction of Rajiv Gandhi (who had always wanted to build a small people's car) it was determined that the economics did not make sense and that a smaller, cheaper car would be the better option. Maruti instead linked up with Japanese Suzuki to build the subcompact Alto under license.
1981 Specifications
| Model | i |
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| 0-60 mph* | 13.0 seconds |
| 80-0 mph* | 281 feet |
| Cornering Capability* | 0.713g |
| Interior Noise @ 70mph* | 79 dBA |
| Fuel Economy* | 26.5 mpg |
*=Test conducted by
Road & Track, February 1981 issue
