Renault Mégane
The Renault Mégane is a small family car produced by the French car manufacturer Renault for the 1996 model year, and was the successor to the Renault 19. The Mégane has been offered in three- and five-door hatchback, saloon, coupé, convertible and estate bodystyles at various points in its lifetime, and having been through four generations is now in its fifth incarnation.
The first generation was largely based on its predecessor, the 19, and utilized modified versions of that car's drivetrain and chassis. The second and third generations were based on the Renault–Nissan C platform. The fourth generation is based on the CMF-CD platform, as used by the Renault Talisman and Renault Scénic.
In November 1996, the Mégane Scénic compact MPV was introduced, using the same mechanical components as the hatchback Mégane. For 2002, the Mégane entered its second generation with a substantial redesign taking place, and was voted European Car of the Year for 2003, whilst also becoming the first car in its class to receive a five star Euro NCAP rating.
The Mégane entered its third generation in 2008, with another totally different design being used; the saloon version of the Mégane became known as the Renault Fluence for this generation, and it was introduced in 2009. The fourth-generation Mégane was launched in 2015, with sales commencing in 2016.
In 2021, Renault revealed a battery electric version known as the Megane E-Tech Electric, which takes on a crossover exterior design.
First generation (X64; 1995)
Development of the X64 began at the beginning of 1990, with the first sketches of X64 programme being drawn during the first six months of 1990. Very quickly, several themes were outlined and developed into four small scale models by September 1990. The Mégane name, meaning "eyeglasses" in Japanese, was coined by Manfred Gotta.The designs retained were developed around four themes. Theme A: a six light version, evoking the Laguna; Theme B: a model with a markedly ; Theme C: another design with ellipse-shaped glasswork and rear notch; Theme D: a model with the same elliptical glazing and rounded rear.
In March 1991, all four styling proposals were developed into full scale. Theme C by Michel Jardin was chosen by Le Quement and frozen for production in April 1992. The first prototypes were built and presented to management in December 1992. Approximately 432 prototypes were built and destroyed during development.
In June 1993, Renault purchased production tooling for the X64, with the first test unit being assembled at the Douai plant in October 1994, and pre production units being constructed from December 1994 to the middle of 1995.
The Mégane I was unveiled in September 1995, at the Frankfurt Motor Show, as a replacement for the Renault 19. The car was essentially a reskin of its predecessor, and carried over the 19's floorpan, engines, transmissions and chassis design, albeit with much modification.
Taking its name from a Renault concept car shown in 1988, the Mégane further developed the new corporate styling theme introduced by Patrick Le Quément on the Laguna, most notably the "bird beak" front grille – a styling cue borrowed from the Renault 16 of the 1960s. Renault decided to add an acute accent to the vehicle name, in order to assert its European identity, in a context of growing competition of newer car manufacturers coming from Japan.
As with the 19 and the 11 before it, the Mégane was produced at Renault's Douai plant in northern France starting in July 1995, and at the Spanish plant of Palencia. Market launch began on 15 November 1995 in France, and 15 December 1995 for the coupé. Sales in the United Kingdom commenced in April 1996.
Safety was a key focus of the Mégane I, Renault's first car reflecting their new focus of selling on safety.
It featured a pillar mounted three-point seatbelt for the middle rear occupant, standard front belt pre tensioners and load limiters, driver's airbag and an impressive safety structure – a specification ahead of all rivals in 1995, e.g. VW Golf Mk 3, Opel Astra F, Ford Escort etc. Some features, such as the three-point middle belt, had debuted on the Renault 19 safety concept vehicle.
The car also benefited from Renault's first "System for Restraint and Protection", essentially a system of careful optimisation of occupant restraint by interaction of the seat, seatbelt, pretensioner, load limiter and airbag. The Mégane I achieved a best in class four star crash test rating in the 1998 round of testing by Euro NCAP.
November 1996 saw the introduction of the Mégane Scénic compact MPV.
Power came from the Renault E type engine in 1.4 L and 1.6 L, and the F-type unit in both 1.9 L diesel and 2.0 L petrol forms, although this time around there was a wider variety of 16 valve derivatives. A 1.9 L diesel engine in both normally aspirated and turbocharged forms was also available.
Renault also produced a limited number of Renaultsport edition Phase 1's with the Renaultsport bodywork; however, these were very rare. The Renaultsport kit was available to purchase for a short time direct from Renault France, but has now been discontinued, thus their value has increased.
The estate version of the original Mégane was only available in LHD form, with no RHD variants built. This could be due to the greater popularity of the Scenic in those markets, limiting the potential sales of a compact estate. The estate was added with the facelift of 1999, although pre-facelifted Mégane estates were sold from September 1998 in Turkey, where it was manufactured by Oyak-Renault.
In Japan, Renault was formerly licensed by Yanase Co., Ltd., but in 1999 Renault acquired a stake in Japanese automaker Nissan. As a result of Renault's purchase, Yanase canceled its licensing contract for all Renault models sold in Japan, including, but not limited to, the Mégane I, in 2000, and Nissan took over as the sole licensee for Renault cars.
Facelift
A mild facelift in spring 1999 gave the Mégane I a modified grille, more advanced safety features and upgraded equipment, and 16 valve engines were used across the range. An Estate body style was also launched in mainland Europe with the facelift. The production continued for the Latin America Market, where it was sold alongside the Mégane II line at a considerably lower price until 2011.South America
In countries, such as Argentina and Colombia, the Mégane I was available until 2010, sold as a sedan and an estate, but in Venezuela, it was available only as a sedan. It features as the top line of the model the LA04 engine, and was produced by both Renault Colombia and Renault Argentina, in where it was one of the best selling cars to date.It is a car with more advanced safety features, upgraded equipment and more. The Mégane I had a lower price than the Mégane II.
In Venezuela, it was only available in one version: Unique, with a five-speed manual gearbox or a four-speed automatic one. Both of these were equipped with Abs and other extra equipment including driver and passenger front airbags, foglights, leather seats, electric mirrors and electric windows. In Argentina, not every version had features such as electric windows, electric mirrors or airbags.
Engines
Maxi Mégane
During the 1990s, Renault Sport developed a rally car for the Formula 2 Kit Car regulations. This was the Clio Williams Maxi, which was the first car truly developed for the F2 Kit Car category, and first appeared in 1996. However, rivals such as Citroën and Peugeot soon introduced bigger and more powerful cars, which resulted in Renault producing an F2 version of the Mégane in 1996. The Maxi Mégane officially represented the brand in French Championship rallies in 1996 and 1997 with drivers like Philippe Bugalski, Jean Ragnotti or Serge Jordan, and the British Rally Championship from 1996 to 1999, with Grégoire De Mévius, Alain Oreille, Robbie Head, Martin Rowe, and Tapio Laukkanen. Both the French and British rally teams also compete in the World Rally Championship.After the works programme was discontinued, many privateers continued to use the car. It was also used in the FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup, which Renault won in 1999. The car used a special version of the Renault F7R engine, and had a seven speed Sequential manual transmission.
Its most notable result was an outright victory in the 1996 Tour de Corse in the hands of Philippe Bugalski and his co driver Jean-Paul Chiaroni ; but it also helped Renault to the FIA 2 Litre World Rally Cup of Manufacturer's title in 1999.
In other high level competitions, Renault took back to back manufacturer's and driver's titles in the British Rally Championship in 1998 and 1999, whilst they also took the European Rally Championship in 1999.
Second generation (X84; 2002)
The Mégane II was launched in September 2002 for the 2003 model year, and marked a completely new fresh start. The two cars bear very little resemblance, the new vehicle having been inspired by the manufacturer's new design language first seen in the Avantime.The new Mégane was voted European Car of the Year for 2003, fighting off stiff competition from Japan's Mazda3 and PSA's Citroën C3, and achieved a five star safety rating in the Euro NCAP crash tests, the first small family car to do so.
The Mégane II and the Laguna were both showcases for a great deal of innovative technologies Renault launched at the beginning of the 2000s; the Renault Card keyless ignition system, standard on the Mégane II, was a first in this class and has since been widely adopted.
Similarly, the option of a panoramic glass sunroof is another area in which Renault led where others followed. In June 2003, the first ever live crash test using a real driver rather than a crash test dummy featuring the Mégane II was conducted by Top Gear.
The Mégane II sedan was assembled in Iran by Pars Khodro from 2008 to 2013.
In Brazil, Renault launched a flex fuel version, called "Hi-Flex", which is able to run either with unleaded petrol or ethanol. Like the Brazilian Scénic and Clio versions, the Mégane's engine can work with any mix of petrol and ethanol, due to the use of an electronic control module.
The flex version has a 16V, with ethanol, 1.6-litre inline-four engine developed and produced in Brazil, but the 2.0-litre, French-built engine can not be run on ethanol.
As with the previous Mégane, the range of models is wide; there is a three and five door hatchback available, named "Sport Hatch" and "Hatch" respectively, there is a four-door saloon/sedan, a five-door estate, and to replace both the Mégane Coupe and Convertible, a new retractable hardtop coupe designed by Karmann. Unlike the previous model, the estate version was sold in RHD for the first time.
Unlike its predecessor, the Mégane II was not licensed by Yanase Co., Ltd. for the Japanese market, as Renault had acquired a stake in Nissan when the Mégane I was still in production. Instead, the Mégane II was licensed by Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and sold exclusively through Nissan Red Stage Store locations.