14. Renault Avantime
Enjoying the success of the Espace minivan gave the Renault a chance to explore the concept and try something new and interesting in the typical French way. Renault saw that buyers of the Espace minivan were inclining towards more powerful, luxurious versions over the baseline models. So, their managers thought they should offer a luxury minivan to the most discriminating car consumers.
But, filling the car with updated equipment wasn’t enough. Their vehicle needed to have a distinctive feature to be recognizable and popular. So, they thought of a unique minivan coupe they named the Avantime, introducing it in 2001. The Avantime was the answer to a question nobody asked, so it was received with mixed reviews.
The car was an engineering success with a massive hardtop roof and a problematic structural stiffness Renault engineers managed to keep under control. The Avantime was also expensive and came with only the most powerful engines and a high level of standard equipment. Although the Avantime was a chic, interesting car, it failed to attract customers. So, Renault discontinued the model after only two years after producing a little over 8,000 of them.