Jordan_Katsianis@autovia.co.uk
THIS year marks the 30th anniversary since the release of one of the 20th century’s most iconic city cars. We’re not talking about a Mini, or the original Fiat 500, but something much more modern, and more Gallic. It is, of course, the original Renault Twingo. It was a monobox city car that was never officially sold in the UK, but one whose resounding brilliance certainly didn’t escape our collective notice.
To celebrate this milestone, we’re catching up with its creator, Patrick le Quément, who was a driving force of car design during two decades as vice-president of corporate design at Renault. Our meeting proves he’s a man whose wit is just as finely tuned as his aesthetic sensibility.
Born in France, and later schooled at what is now known as Birmingham City University (formerly the Birmingham College of Art), le Quément made the decision to complete his Bachelor of Industrial Design at that college because of a very specific tutor in residence by the name of Naum Slutzki, a student of the famed German school of the Bauhaus.
Speaking of his former mentor, le Quément says: “He very much spoke and thought like a