With a striking design and colors -purples, pinks, yellows and solid greens-, the small minivan took the 90s by storm among those looking for a utility chic that would serve them as a city car, without sacrificing interior space or striking design. Renault sold 2.4 million units of the first-generation Twingo, half of them in France. The rest stayed mainly in Germany and Italy, according to data from the brand.
Renault launched a second generation Twingo in 2007, which by that time was already crying out for an update to adapt to a market swamped by electronics and security. Renault not only modernized Twingo’s aesthetics – without giving up bright colors – but also mounted it on the Clio II platform, which meant more technology and safety for Twingo. However, that second generation was not as successful as the first: the fact that it only had two doors and a higher price than the Clio limited its presence on the streets of Europe.
Casio and Renault respond to Shakira
The small urban model, which Shakira compared to a Ferrari, had its last update in 2014, when Renault launched a third generation, which has little to do with the aesthetics of the Twingo of the 90s, and much more with that of a hatchback urban, Fiat 500-type. Unlike its predecessor, today’s Twingo has a rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive chassis, meaning it’s compact on the outside but roomy and practical on the inside.
Despite its latest update, the model has nothing to do with an expensive Ferrari of 250,000 euros (about five million pesos), or more. Both models belong to completely different worlds: Twingo is a vehicle designed for the masses; Ferrari for a millionaire elite. There is no point of comparison and Shakira evidenced it in her “Session 53”, arousing unusual interest in the small model of the rhombus brand.
Searches for “Twingo” skyrocketed on Google -according to data from the platform itself- after the release of the Colombian single, partly driven by ignorance of the model’s existence in the markets where it was not marketed ; partly to have a visual reference of the car with which Shakira compares Clara Chía Martín, the current girlfriend of her ex-partner.
The furor that the singer generated around the hatchback urban -and from Renault- did not go unnoticed by the market. The actions of the French brand, that are listed on Euronext Paris, rose 1.66% this Thursday to 37.68 euros each, according to Bloomberg data. Chance? maybe. Although it is not the first time that the intersection between a product and a public figure generate movements on the blackboard of the Stock Market.
When the Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo took his place to participate in a conference within the framework of Euro 2022, and removed two containers of Coke to then ask for water, The Coca-Cola Company shares temporarily lost 3% of their market value, a percentage that they have already recovered.
In the case of Renault, although the comparison made by the Colombian would seem to have a negative connotation for Twingo; actually, it aroused massive interest about the model and its manufacturer. That, in the end, is advertising. And advertising sells.