Renault Megane production ends after 27 years

The Renault Megane is bidding au revoir. Well, its internal combustion-powered iterations are. This marks the end of said hatchback's production run that stretches across 27 years across four generations. Paving its way forward for now is the electrified version of the Megane.

The 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show saw the debut of the current fourth-generation Mégane, which went on sale that summer. Built in both Spain and Turkey, it was offered in conventional five-door hatchback, estate, and saloon bodies. In Malaysia at least, the fourth-gen model pictured above was initially offered in GT form briefly before local distributors TC Euro Cars switched up and offered it solely in sporty RenaultSport (RS) form.

Speaking of the sporty RS-badged iteration, the track-focused RS Trophy-R version of which lapped the  Nürburgring back in 2019 where it set the front-wheel-drive lap record around the infamous course.

In the UK, the Megane recently switched to simply being a hybrid vehicle, eliminating its pure-petrol and diesel engines in favour of a 1.6-liter gasoline engine linked to a 65-bhp electric motor for a total of 158 bhp. This configuration is also seen in smaller Clio sibling and its lifted Captur crossover cousin.

According to Autocar UK, the Mégane has historically contributed significantly to Renault's overall sales volumes, with sales of the most recent model reaching a peak of 168,000 units in 2017 and averaging just under 70,000 units even in 2021.

The successor to the Mégane is a similarly designed hatchback, albeit one with a more SUV-like body. Following the Renault Megane E-Tech into dealerships in 2024 will be a compact SUV known as the Scenic that shares the same CMF-EV architecture as Alliance member Nissan's new Ariya.