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2016 Megane Renault Sport to be five-door hatch only


Renault COO confirms the next Megane RS will not be a three-door coupe, but Australia is leading the charge for a manual transmission.

Now that the fourth-generation Megane has been revealed, the big question on the lips of Renault fans is what form the next Renault Sport version will take.

The new hot hatch is still at least twelve months off, but Renault COO Jerome Stoll has confirmed that the new model will follow the Clio RS in becoming a five door model for the first time.

There will be no Megane RS coupe with this generation

“There will be no Megane RS coupe with this generation,” Stoll told CarsGuide at this week’s Frankfurt motor show.

This comes as little surprise given mainstream versions of the new Megane are also five-door only, joining segment rival Ford Focus that dropped its three door bodystyle with the move to the third-generation Focus in 2011.

Some purists still yearn for a theoretically lighter and more stylish three door model

The move to five door has been successful for the Clio, with a significant sales increase across markets, but some purists still yearn for a theoretically lighter and more stylish three door model like the first two generations and their Clio Williams spiritual ancestor.

These same purists are losing sleep in anticipation of the next Megane RS’s transmission choice, given the previously manual-only Clio made the switch to dual-clutch auto-only at the same time it added two extra doors.

The current Megane RS retains its manual-only status, but the new model is expected to go dual-clutch only to expand its market appeal in an increasingly auto-preferring market.

The addition of an auto variant makes sense, but purists would prefer the choice between the two transmissions as with contemporaries like the VW Golf GTI and Subaru WRX.

“Australia has very much helped us to move in that direction,” Stoll told CarsGuide.

The Megane RS currently makes up about 10 per cent of Megane sales in Australia, and has been as high as the second biggest Renault Sport market in the world, trading places with Germany, France and Japan.