Renault Rodeo (1971). The forgotten concepts of the anti-Citroën Méhari

The Renault 4 Rodeo could have looked like this.

The Renault Rodeo, competitor of the Citroën Méhari, could have been very different from the one we know. Back to some design proposals that Renault was probably wrong to refuse.

In 2021, while Renault celebrated the 60th anniversary of the 4L with great fanfare, the Rodeo based on the Renault 4 celebrated its fifty candles much more discreetly. It must be said that this rival of the Citroën Méhari never managed to match the commercial success of its competitor with chevrons. From its conception, its history was strewn with pitfalls. The design of the Rodeo could have been very different from the one we know.

Renault Rodeo prototype SEAB studio — This SEAB proposal was refused by Renault.

Méhari, Renault’s missed opportunity

The Renault 4 Rodeo could have been the Citroën Méhari. In 1966 the company SEAB (Société d’Exploitation et d’Application des Brevets), specializing in plastics, designed a leisure car with a polymer body on a Renault 4 chassis and offered the Régie an industrial partnership aimed at marketing it. Renault’s pundits, including CEO Pierre Dreyfus and his future successor Bernard Hanon, who was then marketing director, refused. SEAB then turned to Citroën and, in 1968, after a few modifications, the Dyane 6 Méhari was born.

Renault Rodeo prototype SEAB bodywork — The rear of the SEAB prototype strongly evokes the Méhari…

Citroen Mehari — … which will result two years later at Citroën.

Renault wants its beach car

Renault Rodeo prototype SEAB 2 — SEAB’s second proposal for Renault.

Taken aback by the success of the Méhari and biting its fingers to have rejected the project, Renault launched a call for tenders for competition between several third-party coachbuilders with a view to investing in the same segment, pushing the concept further. of the R4 Plein Air produced by Sinpar.

Among the companies involved were SEAB and ACL (Atelier de Construction du Livradois), but all the proposals were rejected by Renault. The concept of in-house designer Robert Broyer was preferred by the management.

Renault Rodeo prototype Grinder grille — The bow of Robert Broyer’s prototype evokes that of the Renault 4.

Renault Rodeo prototype Grind reliefs — This Renault 4 Rodeo concept is shorter than a 4L.

The car was obviously rustic, with round headlights on either side of a sloping grille, and the body had raised stripes, vertical or horizontal depending on the panels. The windscreen was removable and the spare wheel, which protruded at the rear under the car, acted as a bumper. The prototype was given the green light in May 1970, and Renault chose SEAB to produce the car. But a new turnaround was going to decide otherwise.

Renault Rodeo prototype Grind roll bars — The body is made of polymer.

Renault Rodeo prototype Grind instrumentation — The interior is minimalist and rustic.

A media-political intrigue

While the industrialization of the Renault 4 Rodeo was preparing between Renault and SEAB, ACL was announced by certain media as the manufacturer of the model. Renault then began to sue Raoul Teilhol, boss of ACL (renamed Teilhol in 1978). The origins of this imbroglio remain mysterious. Still, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, then Minister of the Economy at a time when the state owned Renault, took a position in favor of Teilhol. ACL therefore obtained the production of the Rodeo and called on Robert Broyer to somehow improve the design of the vehicle previously rejected by the Losange.

Renault 4 6 Rodeo — The Renault 4 Rodéo (left) and Renault 6 Rodéo (right).

This collaboration then continued to give birth to the Renault 6 Rodéo and Renault Rodéo 5. A Rodéo 9 project was supposedly on the rails when the line died out in 1986. With approximately 60,000 units produced, all versions combined, the Renault Rodéo was never able to overshadow the approximately 145,000 Citroën Méharis ‘factory.