UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 20 SEPTEMBER 2023
Celebrated car designer Patrick le Quément was among the star attractions at Birmingham City University’s inaugural Alumni Festival, which attracted big names from the world of music, sport, art and business.
Joining the 78-year-old Frenchman at the event were violinist Esther Abrami, Paralympic skier Shona Brownlee MBE, entrepreneur Shovon Wiggan and industrial artist Luke Perry.
For Le Quément, responsible for the production of an incredible 60 million cars during his eventful career, it was a trip down memory lane in more ways than one.
Not only was he making a return to the academic institution he studied at in the 1960s, albeit when it was known as the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, he was also reacquainted with the Renault Twingo, the car he created 30 years ago.
One of the 20th century’s most iconic city cars, the Twingo Mk1 was produced between 1993 and 2007, selling 2.6 million units. It has also become something of a cult classic.
“I was into this idea that this car had the potential of being something very different, that we should forget about an aggressive look and go for something radically different,” recalled Le Quément, who also worked for Ford and Volkswagen.
“I did this sketch - it was a very simple sketch - and it just showed this car from the front with a big smile, eyes and inside there was a fellow with a large grin.
“I said. ‘OK, this is what we are going to do. We are going to do a happy car.'”
Determined to move away from “the boring cars that Renault had been making”, Le Quément, who also led on the design of the Scénic, Espace, Kangoo, Laguna and Mégane, had to be extremely persuasive to convince the company’s president to follow his lead.
Needing no persuading were members of the UK’s Twingo Mk1 owners club who attended the Alumni Festival to meet Le Quément.
One of them, Chris Williams, travelled up from London in his very own coriander green-coloured Twingo Mk1, which he calls ‘Muriel’, for Le Quément to see and sit in.
“At a young age, I spotted a Twingo in the car park at Disneyland Paris and always hoped that, one day, I'd have a Twingo of my own,” said Williams.
“It is said that you should never meet your heroes, but Patrick le Quément is a delight. He is witty, generous and thoughtful. Patrick was wonderfully complimentary about my car and I feel honoured to have been invited. It was a truly memorable evening.”
An exhibition featuring the work of celebrated BCU alumni is being held at the university’s Parkside building until 6 October and is open to the public.