Page 24 - Marcello Gandini Maestro of Design Revisited

396rENAuLT prOJECT X-44
REVISITED
ON WATSON FINE BOO
RENAULT
X-44
1983
By 1983, the Project “Z” was renamed — in terms of
internal code names — as Project X-44. A logical
evolution, the dimensions were reimagined as a car
which would be a compact 3.25 meters long, markedly
shorter than the Renault 4’s 3.67 meters, but a bit higher
at 1.5 meters (as compared to the 4’s 1.47 meters).
DALTON WATSON FINE BOOKS
 All the matte black or blue parts were the ones that would be
manufactured in composite, perhaps in SMC, to keep tooling costs
low. COURTESY CHRISTOPHE BONNAUD
his book De la 4CV ˆ twingo. 50 ans de petites et secrtes
Renault.
“There is no longer any desire to derive the platform from
The idea was to have a car which was much smaller than
the Super 5, whose development was progressing well,
and was scheduled to be launched the following year.
With a planned length of around 3.6 meters and a height
of around 1.4 meters, the Super 5 (which was project
code numbered 140 at first, and then X-40), was slotted
for a distinctly higher market segment, and to distance
the replacement of the 4, Project X-44 was noticeably
smaller, and “not very far from that of the first VBG born
almost ten years earlier,” remarks Christophe Bonnaud in
© DALTON WATSON FINE BOOKS
the Supercinq (new R5) chassis,” points out Bonnaud.
“The objective is indeed to design a rudimentary machine
of reduced size, close to the concept of a Fiat Panda or a
Lancia Y10, but with Renault features. Therefore, the idea
of developing a direct successor to the R4 was altogether
ditched, as this would have been an overweight product.”
The design that Gandini proposed was, in terms of
proportions, not dissimilar to what Honda had unveiled
two years earlier, the City (AA), a “one-and-half-box”
three-door hatchback, with a sloping bonnet line, which
gave the car an almost mono-volume look. Gandini also
proposed the use of composites for the bonnet and rear
 Almost one-and-a-half box in profile, Marcello Gandini’s proposal for the X-44 made for a handsome little city car. COURTESY
CHRISTOPHE BONNAUD
© DALTON WATSON FINE BOOK
DALTON WATSO