Renault 21


The Renault 21 is a large family car produced by French automaker Renault between 1986 and 1994. It was also sold in North America initially through American Motors dealers as the Renault Medallion and later through Jeep-Eagle dealers as the Eagle Medallion. A total of 2,096,000 units were produced.
The Renault 21 sedan was launched in the beginning of 1986, as the successor to the successful Renault 18, and this was followed a few months later by the seven seater station wagon, the R21 Nevada, marketed as the Savanna in the United Kingdom. In 1987, What Car? awarded the Renault 21 GTS Best Family Saloon. The Renault 21 Savanna was awarded Car of the Year, as well as Best Family Estate.

Design

Unusually, the Renault 21 was offered with disparate engine configurations. The 1.7 litre version featured a transverse engine and transmission, but Renault had no gearbox suitable for a more powerful transverse engine: accordingly, faster versions featured longitudinally mounted engines. The two versions featured different wheel bases: the engines were all relatively compact four-cylinder units and the engine bay was large enough to accept either configuration without reducing passenger space.
However, at a time when production technologies were relatively inflexible, the need to assemble differently configured engine bays on a single production line, along with the supplementary inventory requirements imposed both on Renault and on the dealership network, did compromise the Renault 21's profitability.
The Nevada/Savanna station wagon/estate version was a little longer, with a 2750 mm wheelbase, instead of the 2600 mm of the sedan version, and configured with seven seats, two of those a forward facing foldable bench seat for children that used up much of the luggage space. It had roofrack side rails as standard.

History

First unveiled on 20 November 1985 and officially launched in February 1986, the R21 gave Renault a new competitor in this sector after eight years of the R18, which was declining in popularity after a very strong start to its commercial life. It had a razor like design, which was different from contemporary cars of the era, e.g. the Ford Sierra and the Opel Ascona.
It was sold in right hand drive for the United Kingdom from June 1986.
The car was revamped considerably in May 1989, both technically and aesthetically – the new sleeker outward appearance was similar to the also recently revamped Renault 25, and a liftback body style was also added to the range along with a sporty 2.0 L Turbo version. Of the sedans, the TXi 2.0 12v and 2.0 turbo was also available with the four-wheel-drive Quadra transmission. The Nevada wagons received four-wheel-drive in the eight-valve 2.0 and in the naturally aspirated 2.1 Diesel, as the 12-valve and the turbo were not available with this bodywork. The front-wheel-drive 21 Turbo was capable of. At the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show the fuel injected 2.2i model was introduced, originally reserved for the German market where insurance and tax regulations suited larger engines with less peak power. This was also available with four-wheel-drive, exclusively as a Nevada.
The Renault 21 liftback and sedan petrol fueled models ceased production in the beginning of 1994, following the launch of the all new Laguna liftback, but the diesels and the Nevada/Savanna remained on the market, until their replacement Laguna variants were launched.
A Renault 21 TSE, donated as a personal gift to Václav Havel by the president of Portugal Mário Soares just before the Velvet Revolution, served for a while as the official state car of the President of Czechoslovakia in 1989.

Other markets

Argentina

The R21 was built in Argentina, at the Renault facility in Santa Isabel from late 1988 until early 1996. Production continued in Argentina for some years after its demise in European markets. Two body styles were built: sedan and Nevada. It has been equipped with both petrol and diesel engines.
The only petrol engine available was the 2.2 L 8 valve, and the only diesel engine available was the 2.1 L. Both engines were available for the three body versions. The liftback was imported from France and called by the trim "Alizé". Was replaced for the Laguna.

Turkey

The R21 was manufactured in Turkey in the beginning of 1990s under the name Optima, Manager, and at the top of the line the 2.0-liter fuel injected "Concorde." Later on, the "Manager 2000" with a 2 L 122 PS engine was introduced. The Oyak-built Renault 21 was produced and sold up to the end of 1996 in Turkey.

United States and Canada

The R21 was also sold in the United States and Canada from 1987 to 1988 as the Renault Medallion and later in 1988 until the end of the line in 1989 as the Eagle Medallion with the 2.2 L engine as the only powerplant. However, the car was only on sale for a few months in 1987 before Renault sold its investment in American Motors Corporation to Chrysler. AMC dealers were now under the newly formed Jeep-Eagle Division of Chrysler, and now as Jeep-Eagle dealers, they continued to sell the car as the Eagle Medallion until 1989. The North American version had somewhat different styling to comply with front and rear impact regulations and different lighting standards.

Colombia

The 21 was launched in Colombia in 1987. Initially, it was available in four door body, with 2.0 L longitudinal engine. In October of the same year, the Renault 21 Nevada was launched, with the same engine as the saloon. in 1989 Sociedad de Fabricación de Automotores S.A. launched a version called RS with the 1.6-liter C2L engine, also used in the TXE version of the Renault 9. In 1990, the name was replaced by the Étoile. The three available versions available were: