Japanese tuner Hatano Automobile is taking orders for a Renault Twingo safari kit that turns the 90 hp third-generation city car into a rally-inspired micro-crossover for around 8,500 USD in styling parts, plus optional power and suspension upgrades. The C'eLavie Cross, built on a 2018 Twingo Intens, gets wide fenders, round rally-spec front lights, "turbofan" black wheels, a suspension lift, and a plastic cladding treatment that reads as urban Porsche 911 Dakar at a tenth of the price. Twenty units total. Five ordered so far. Two delivered.
The companion build is the C'eLavie 1985, based on the sportier Twingo GT (109 hp turbo three-cylinder). The 1985 ditches the safari hardware for tarmac-focused larger wheels, carbon trim, orange graphics over blue paint, and dual exhaust tips. Same body kit, opposite philosophy: one is urban wilderness cosplay, the other is period 1980s hot-hatch aesthetic applied to a rear-engined three-cylinder Renault Smart sibling.
Why This Works On A Twingo And Not On A Kei Car
The third-generation Twingo shared underpinnings with the discontinued Smart ForFour: rear-mounted three-cylinder engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. That architecture is why Hatano's wide-body conversion actually fits visually. Pushing the fenders out on a rear-engine rear-drive platform is the same engineering move that made the original Renault 5 Turbo and the Clio V6 work. It does not work on a front-engine front-drive city car because there is nothing interesting under the flared fenders to justify them.
Hatano understands this. Putting this kit on the new Twingo E-Tech would break the premise. The new Twingo rides on Renault's R5 platform and drives the front wheels, which means a widebody treatment on that car would be purely cosmetic with no mechanical justification. Hatano is deliberately working on the outgoing third-generation model because the drivetrain layout supports the silhouette.
The Power Ceiling And The V6 Rumor
An optional ECU tune pushes the 0.9-liter turbo three-cylinder from 90 hp to 138 hp for around 1,800 USD, and Bilstein coilovers add 1,600 USD for real chassis improvement. That caps the package at roughly 12,000 USD out the door on a used Twingo base for a car that actually handles, not just looks the part. That is below the cost of a Toyota Yaris GR in Japan and a fraction of an R5 Turbo 3E.
Hatano has floated a 3.5-liter Nissan V6 swap as a concept, echoing the Renault Twin'Run concept from 2013 that did the same thing. That remains an idea, and pricing has not been discussed. A V6 conversion on a 950 kg Twingo shell would land in resto-mod territory closer to 100,000 USD once the chassis strengthening, cooling, and transaxle work is accounted for. Hatano's current production pace of five orders in eighteen months suggests the customer pool for that variant is measured in single digits.
Hatano is accepting orders now for the 20-unit production run through the Automobile Council 2026 contacts and direct inquiry. Styling kits ship from Japan; installation is buyer-arranged. The C'eLavie Cross and 1985 share the same 8,500 USD base kit price.