The Renault Fuego was a four-seater, three-door hatchback heavily based on the Renault 18, sharing its floorpan, drivetrain, dashboard and other items. Renault started production of the Fuego in 1980. European production went on into 1987 and Renault Argentina produced the 'Fuego GTA Max' up into 1992. It was sold in the United States through American Motors Corporation (AMC) dealers from 1982 through 1985 inclusive. It replaced the Renault 15 and 17 coupés of the 1970s.
The car was a radical departure from the R15 and R17, as it introduced a rounded design instead of the wedge-shaped predecessors.
Model variants ran as follows, TL, TS, GTS, TX, GTX. The Fuego Turbo was added in 1983 with a midlife facelift to the front grille, bumpers and interior trim. While reliable and available with some of the best Renault engines of that time, the car had a bad image (not helped by the introduction of a turbodiesel variant). The Fuego was not directly replaced by another model in the Renault range.
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