Renault joins motorcycle manufacturers association

RENAULT has joined ACEM, the European association of motorcycle manufacturers, despite having absolutely no intention of making a motorcycle. 

That might seem a tad strange, but it all comes down to the way car makers like Renault are exploiting loopholes to create vehicles that don’t have to meet all the stringent tests that anything officially designated as a ‘car’ has to undergo.

Ask a man on the street what he considers Renault’s new Twizy to be, and once he’s stopped laughing at the name and the comic appearance of the thing he’ll probably say it’s a car, of sorts. But, you see, it’s not. Oh no, no, no. Because that would mean it had to pass crash tests.

Nope, the Twizy is a quadricycle, which – in the eyes of our overlords in Brussels – is a sort of motorcycle, or, in their terms, an ‘L-Class Vehicle’.

Will having Renault on board help or hinder ACEM? Since the company’s joining had to be approved by other members, presumably Europe’s bike makers see it as a good thing.