give the Avantime an 'open air' mode of previous decades hardtop coupes and sedans. The design borrowed the automotive space frame of the first generation Renault Espace (load bearing galvanized structure with non-load bearing composite panels) and used the PSA 24 valve, 207 hp (152 kW) 3.0L V6 engine, which was coupled to a six-speed manual transmission or five-speed automatic transmission. A facelift for the Avantime codenamed D67 was planned for 2004-2005 that would have seen the boot lip lowered. Launch and reception The Avantime was first shown in February 1999, in concept form at a press launch in the Louvre, and one month later to the public at the Geneva Auto Show – where it was referred to as a "Coupéspace" – and went into production two years later, after the subsequent engineering of the pillarless roof to meet safety standards. The Avantime's sales were poor. The car's fortunes were not helped by the introduction of the Renault Vel Satis (another large, upmarket Renault) around the same time. When Matra decided to pull out of the automotive production business in 2003 (partly as a result of the financial loss incurred by the poor sales of the Avantime), Renault chose to discontinue the Avantime rather than move its production elsewhere. 8,557 were built from 2001 to 2003, a figure that makes it one of the worst-selling cars of all time. In 2002, Automobile Magazine said "Le Quement is clearly an outside the box thinker, and the product of his vision is a fascinating exercise, but American buyers' utilitarian expectations of the one box shape just don't jibe with the decadence and frivolity of a grand touring coupe." In November 2008, the Avantime was featured on the British motoring show Top Gear, where the presenters modified the performance of a used Avantime, attempting to lap the test track faster than a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. The Avantime was one of the few cars that all three presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May liked, along with the Ford Mondeo and Subaru Legacy. May would later drive a Renault Avantime for The Grand Tour's Carnage A Trois special. European sales References Avantime Cars introduced in 2001 Cars discontinued in 2003 Front-wheel-drive vehicles Grand tourers Station wagons Coupés