Renault 16

The Renault 16 was a large family car that Renault built from 1965 to 1980 in Le Havre, France, over a single generation. It is a five-door hatchback and was the first French car to win the European Car of the Year award. Renault designed it to replace the larger Frégate, and it brought the hatchback body to the mid-size family segment, with an interior that could be set up in seven different ways. It had front-wheel drive, an aluminium engine mounted behind the gearbox, torsion-bar suspension and an electric cooling fan. Its wheelbase was about 70 mm longer on the left than on the right because of the transverse torsion bars, which gave a very smooth ride. A little over 1.8 million were made in fifteen years; it sold well in most of Europe, and Canada built it from kits until 1974. The Renault 20 later replaced it.