19 November 2002: Original expectations of the sales in Ireland for the new Renault Megane II may have to be revised upwards following the winning by the car of the European Car of the Year 2003, as detailed yesterday on IrishCar.Com.

Jerr Nolan, MD of Renault Distributors in Ireland told us last week that he expected to sell 3,800 units of the new car in 2003, some 80 per cent of them being the 5-door Hatch version, the balance the 3-door Coupe.

But sales in other markets are already above forecasts, and the winning of the ECOTY trophy will undoubtedly boost sales even further across Europe. And most commentators are expecting that the car will also shine next week when the first small car to achieve a full 5-star rating in the Euro NCAP crash tests is being announced. Renault put it on record today that they are expecting a 5-star rating for the Megane II.

This will mean the marque is even more of a history-maker - the Laguna II mid-size car was the first car ever to achieve the top rating, and has only been following into that ‘club’ by the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. The Laguna II is the current holder of the Semperit Irish Car of the Year 2002 award. The Megane II is not in contention for the 2003 award, to be announced on Thursday, because it didn't come to the Irish market in time for consideration.

Across Europe, demand for the Megane II has been strongly diesel-focussed, with 70 per cent of customers buying the 1.5-litre oilburner, and almost have of those going for the 130bhp more powerful version.

Renault also says that customers for the new car, particularly those attracted by the Sport Hatch, are considerably younger than before, and were often previously owners of vehicles from rival brands.

Renault's ambition is to sell 250,000 Mégane II Hatch and Sport Hatch models in 2003.

This is the fifth time that Renault has received the European COTY award. Previous winners were the Renault 16 in 1966, Renault 9 in 1982, Renault Clio in 1991 and Renault Mégane Scénic in 1997.