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Unexpected snowfall on a Sunday morning in the Maastricht Region, the Netherlands.

TopGear 2002 Season 1 (Episode 6): RENAULT AVANTIME on the Cool Wall ‘sub-zero' section! In 2008 Season 12 (Episode 3) the AVANTIME was recognized by the TopGear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May as one of the few cars that they all three liked. 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 an Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X.

This is my 2002 RENAULT AVANTIME 2.0 16V TURBO 'NOIR NOCTURNE' photographed on our driveway.

The last AVANTIME left assembly lines 18th of April 2003 in Romorantin.

THE AVANTIME HISTORY RETOLD
Renault suffered from over-capacity at their factories, and rather than letting people off, they wanted to take over the manufacture of the hugely successful Espace. So, they made the agreement with Matra that if Matra was given the task of developing this new high-spec topmodel, Renault could bring the Espace production in-house. Since Renault don't have the knowhow and expertise to produce cars like Matra do, they had to redesign the Espace, making it the conventional steel car we see marketed as "Espace IV". Matra took on the task and they came up with a series of design-ideas, all based on the "Espace III". Styled by Patrick Le Quément, the Avantime was intended to combine the space of an MPV with four-place pillarless qualities of a coupé. Regarding the styling, Thierry Metroz, design project manager, said, "We wanted someone walking around the car to be continually astonished." You sit high up, with glass all around you, (even the entire roof can be glass, with space-age sun-protection). The car has no B-pillars - which adds a roadster feel to it, with windows down. One thing that certainly delayed the project was getting the pillar-less design safety-approved. It was named the AVANTIME, which is not pronounced fully in French, but a combination 'AVANT' as in French for "ahead" and 'TIME' pronounced in english. In other words "Ahead of its time". They are quite probably right, and it will not be the first time Matra have been ahead of their time, and have spotted a niche almost before it appeared. It is an avantgarde looking car, the target group were people (former Espace-owners) whose kids have left home, but who still prefer the style and flexibility of the Espace, spiced up with a more luxurious interior and some decent performance. Very similar to the Espace the AVANTIME uses a warm-galvanized chassis in the lower part, but with the upper structure done in aluminium, to get the centre of gravity even lower than the Espace. The bodywork is still polyester, which is bonded in place. The doors are now a (galvanized) steel construction with polyester bodypanels bonded to it, making them much stronger than standard Espace doors, which were all fibreglass, with a metal frame, and in later models (J63 and JE) a side-impact steel bar about halfway up, on the inside. The frontend design is developed from the Espace, with the air-con intake moved to above the headlights, rather than the sidemirrors. The sidemirrors, on the other hand, have moved towards the door-windows again, as on the early Espace models.

Renault has enlisted the services of French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier to front its first-ever cross-brand advertising campaign "Créateur d'automobiles" (a one-minute spot with music by Etienne de Crécy). The pan-European ad aims to position the French motor brand as being creative and innovative, paving the way for forthcoming launches such as the new AVANTIME GT Coupe in 2001. TV advertising, by incumbent agency Publicis, breaks on October 17 (2000) and shows Gaultier designing and producing a new dress, from sketches to the finished product on the catwalk. After the fashion show, the model sees a Renault AVANTIME and is captivated by it. The ad then shows the process by which the car was created, in reverse from the completed car back to the production line. The designer's sketch is reduced to a blank piece of paper, mirroring Gaultier's process. Eric Bernard, Renault's worldwide advertising director, said: 'We're going to cause a stir with this campaign, and we hope to surprise and interest those who only think of Renault as a brand for small and medium-sized cars. 'It will trigger awareness and help us develop the new message in preparation for the launch of our new large cars.' The TV campaign's launch is being timed to coincide with the Birmingham International Motor Show, where Renault is unveiling its production version of the AVANTIME. It is being supported by press and poster activity.

Link Renault AVANTIME spot commercial 2001: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FS3V-akz-c

In the meantime - there was a considerable delay in launching the AVANTIME - Renault had tested their design studio VEL SATIS with the public at car-shows and put the VEL SATIS into production, and hit the marked about the same time as the Avantime was finally ready. This means that Renault had two different approaches to the high-end luxury car, one being almost entirely Renault, the other a Matra. The Renault VEL SATIS has 4 doors, which should appeal to less adventurous (or more conservative) people. The AVANTIME was a two-doors only car (well, Matra did have a prototype 4-door version, but it never made it to production), but the doors are "huge" to allow for easy access, and are novel in the way they open, as they are internally hinged, making them sort of fold when you open them. Hereby even these huge doors will only require the same parkingspace as any other car, but at the same time offering excellent access. Having the AVANTIME compete with its Renault sibling obviously was not a good thing for Matra, who must have felt that Renault had not kept their part of the deal. To add insult to injury, its no secret that Renault urged their sales-organisation to push the VEL SATIS before the AVANTIME (by offering higher bonuses to the sales-people). This caused the AVANTIME to sell suficciently poor, to drain Matra for funds, and since there were no hopes for Renault helping them out, Matra decided in december 2002 that enough was enough and in April 2003 they shut down Matra Automobile and closed the factory in Romorantin.

The following production figures have been published (Source: Matra France, L.Thimonner, 2003 ):
2001 : 2067
2002 : 5097
2003 : 1286

Only 8450 RENAULT AVANTIME's were eventually built, before its abrubt end-of-life. No other car in the world has these ingenious doors, and I'm sure this feature will be one of the most remembered features of this AVANTGARDE LOOKING FUTURE CLASSIC.

HISTORY REPEATING
The AVANTIME prototype 4-door version was seen in 2006 in the cinema. In the science fiction movie 'Children of men', Clive Owen and Julianne Moore travel in the Avantime until a breathtaking action sequence disrupt the journey...

Style or no style?

Architecture never changes.

Vitruvius' Utillitas, Firmitas, Venustas can be easily translated into Typology, Design & Style.

Every building can be valued by these terms.

It requires Intelligence, Skill & Taste.

Monumental Classicism (design by Jan Stuyt) versus Corporate Modernism (design by Huib van Wijk).

Parc Imstenrade, 1920-1922 versus Contemporary Villa's, 2008-2010.

A park full of cultural history, located on the monumental Parc Imstenrade and Imstenrader forest as your backyard.

Park Highfield is the absolute most beautiful residential area of the Maastricht Region designed by West 8 urban design & landscape architecture and first prize winner (Residential area 450 dwellings).

Architecture (past and present) can be brilliant, smart and beautiful.

“The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.”

Our goal is to always have fun in what we do! Because without fun, all is in vain.
"Don't dream it, be it!"

Hockey HCC Heerlen JC1, 2011-2012.

Huib van Wijk, our best friend and architect of the BSSR-House, with a part of the BSSR Family on top of the Siza tower (Avenue Ceramique, Maastricht). The Siza tower (1997-2001) is DESIGNED BY Álvaro Siza & Project manager Huib van Wijk.

Explore BSSR  House
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