The Renault 12 is a 4-door Sedan (car) / saloon / 5-door Station wagon / estate / 3-door Sedan delivery / car derived van from Renault, built from 1969 to 2000, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. Under the bonnet: 1289 .
Where it came from
The Renault 12 is a small family car introduced by French automaker Renault at the Paris Motor Show in October 1969 and produced in France until 1980. Available as a saloon (Berline) and estate (Break), it was also produced under licence in many countries around the globe into the early 21st century. In its first few years the 12 received praise from the European press for its spacious, comfortable interior, its styling, its performance and its low fuel consumption. However it fared worse in the North American press: in a test of the 1974 model, Road & Track was critical of the engine's "obtrusive" noise, and called the heavy, non-power steering "a serious design flaw".
They also gave it "very poor marks" for the ventilation system. Renault 12 production and sales ended in western Europe in 1980, but the model continued to be produced and sold by Renault affiliates elsewhere. The last R12 was produced in 2000 in Turkey, while Romanian automaker Dacia continued producing the R12-based 1310 saloon and estate until 2004 and the R12-based Dacia Pick-Up until December 2006. Commercially the Renault 12 was a successful car, selling 2.5 million units.
Under the skin
Power comes from 1289 other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It shifts through a 4-speed Manual transmission / manual / 5-speed manual / 3-speed Automatic transmission / automatic. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 2440 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Renault 8 and 10; its successor was the Renault 18; assembly was at Boulogne-Billancourt. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Range Rover Range Rover, the American Motors Corporation AMC Gremlin, the Suzuki Jimny — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Renault catalogue sit the Renault 10 and the Renault 10CV.
What it costs now
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Renault 12 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.