It is with a heavy heart that we bring the news that Renault may no longer (or ever) build the Clio RS16 (mirroring the name of Renault’s F1 racer for 2016) that it revealed at this year’s Monaco F1 Grand Prix, a hardcore hatch with the internals of Megane RS275 but shoehorned into the lighter, more compact body of a Clio RS200 EDC.
Supposedly, Renault did not arrive at this decision on a whim. Instead, it chose in favour of the Alpine sports car that would have otherwise been hampered by the production resources allocated to the Clio RS16, which would also have been built at the Alpine Dieppe plant.
A spokesperson told Autocar UK: "The option of delaying RS16 until after the start-up of Alpine was considered but this would have meant launching the car in the first half of 2018, which is too long for customers to wait. The Alpine project is said to have taken priority because of Renault's plans to use the sports car to kick-start a family of potentially lucrative Alpine models.”
With a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine turbocharged to 205kW under its bonnet, a widened track and a body to accommodate its added girth, the car whose codename KZ01 and later known as the RS16 was speculated to be quicker than the Megane RS275 Trophy R that once held the record for quickest lap around the Nurburgring for a front-driven car.
No doubt that, should it have remained on track for a production debut, the current record held by the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S will be under serious threat.
With plans for the super-Clio on ice, previous efforts to revitalise the RenaultSport brand back into the fore of public consciousness has been dealt a significant setback as the RS16 was meant to act as a figurehead of sorts to drive interest toward its motorsports and performance arm.
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