We could be wrong, but we suspect that it may have crossed your mind too upon laying your eyes on these renders, so we’ll just get it out of the way now: we see a hint or two of BMW’s i8 hybrid sports car in the exterior design of this new Renault Fuego Concept made by Idecore, but to be fair, there’s more to this study, so read on.
Idecore, an independent team of designers and modelers headed by Riccardo Magnoler and Marco Maltese, is no stranger to our site as we’ve shared two of their Alfa Romeo projects in the past, including the Monza V8 in 2010 and the Minhoss Compact Coupe in 2011.
With its latest design study, Idecore is resurrecting a name from Renault’s past, the Fuego sports coupe made from 1980 through 1995, and which was sold in the States through American Motors (AMC) dealers from 1982 to 1985 – obviously, it wasn’t successful on this side of the pond.
While the original Fuego was a coupe with a large, bubble-glass rear hatch offered with both turbocharged and naturally aspirated engines, the new study was envisioned as a four-door coupe of sorts with smaller rear-hinged doors similar to the Mazda RX-8.
On paper, the slender GT model measures 4,600mm (181 inches) long, 1,900mm (74.8 inches wide) and just 1,239mm (48.8 inches) tall, with a wheelbase of 2,855mm (112.4 inches).
For its motivation, the 2+2 model would use an “advanced hybrid propulsion system” comprising a 1.6-liter turbo-diesel producing around 160hp and a 95hp electric motor for a grand total of 255hp.
According to Idecore’s thesis, “traction of the vehicle is selectable by the driver in 4 different modes: Hybrid, full electric, sport and Ice indicated for low grip conditions. Those different programs work simultaneously on power units, automatic transmission and suspensions too”.
By John Halas
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