The Renault Twingo RS is dead

A moment of silence, please: the Renault Twingo RS is dead. This is Bad News.

With Renault gearing up to build the next generation Twingo, the company has confirmed that there are currently no plans to build a new generation RS. And to make it worse, we're told that just ten examples of the terrier-tastic 133bhp RS remain on sale in UK dealerships.

Why Bad News? Because the Twingo RS is a fantastically fun little car, consuming all of Top Gear's patented Little Enthusiastic-Dog Analogies during our time with it. It's 1.6-litre naturally aspirated four-pot was a delight to wring out, but could we have seen the last of a N/A Renaultsport?

After all, if the Twingo RS does ever make a return, it'd likely be a turbo, just like the new Clio RS - and 265bhp Megane RS - changing the very character of the high-revving pup. Company insiders suggested it'd be unlikely to get a Clio-spec double-clutch ‘box, however, as it'd add unnecessary cost and complication to a small, cheap car.

Naturally, there is hope that a new Twingo RS will appear at some point in the not-too-distant future, not least because the concept car that previews the next-gen Twingo is bonkers. This brings us neatly onto the Twin'Run concept we showed you a couple of months back - a concept we've exclusively driven in the August issue of Top Gear magazine.

That concept got a mid-engined 320bhp V6 saddled to a twin-clutch sequential gearbox with rear-wheel-drive. Here's hoping Renault will deign to share plenty of Twin'Run DNA with the next Twingo RS.

A sad story for the naturally aspirated brigade? Possibly. Don't forget, Honda axed the Civic Type R a few years back, while the next one, not scheduled for a return until 2015, will likely get a 1.6-litre turbo developed from Honda's ‘global engine' spec.

Top Gear waves goodbye to the Type-R

We'll have more news as soon as we get it. For now, have a watch of Jeremy doing a proper, sensible, consumer-focused road test of the Twingo RS, complete with Ross Kemp tied up in the boot. Ahem.