Renault 16

Unveiled at the 1965 Geneva Motor Show, the Renault 16 marked Renault’s entry into the upper end of the family car market. It created a new category: the hatchback saloon, combining the comfort of a touring car with the space of an estate.

Its large rear door, folding rear seat and adjustable seats allowed the interior to be reconfigured as needed, a very new idea in Europe at the time. Its front-wheel drive, aluminium engine and long-travel suspension gave it remarkable comfort on French roads. Designed under Gaston Juchet, its original silhouette, with its sloping roofline, was unlike any other.

In 1966 it was voted European Car of the Year, the first Renault to win the title. Produced until 1980, with more than 1.8 million built, it paved the way for Renault’s “cars for living” and foreshadowed the modularity that would become a Renault speciality, right up to the Espace.