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The Torino, launched in 1966, remained in production as a sedan and coupe until early 1982. The model was sold for years by IKA Renault and under the Renault brand name in Argentina, but was not developed by Renault.

The importance of the Torino to the Argentine market was recognised in the 1970s, which was why Renault's design department worked on a successor to both body styles. This was based on the existing Torino floor group, which was optimised on numerous points. The existing 3.8 litre 6 cylinder line engine could also count on continuing its career. The power source was fitted with a Bosch injection system.

The reason why Renault's design department was involved in designing the successor to the Torino was because they were investigating whether the top model could also be sold in Europe. This was not entirely strange. In the sixties, Renault assembled the American Rambler in Vilvoorde. And based on that car Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA) built the Torino.

Photo: Robert Broyer next to the Renault 40 he designed.

Renault Centre Style made several models in 1:5 scale and full size. In the end, the design of the Renault 40 by Robert Broyer was chosen and developed further. The presentation took place on the outside grounds of the design department on 15 January 1972. The car had two faces. The left side of the bodywork was designed as a four-door sedan, while the right side showed the lines of the two-door coupé version. The sedan side stood on wheels with four-hole aluminium hubcaps, while the coupé side was fitted with highly stylised wheels.

There were two variants of the front end, which could easily be swapped on the car. According to Robert Broyer, the continuous front with the double round headlights was intended for the European market and the slightly narrower grille with separate upright headlights was intended for Argentina. Incidentally, despite the fact that the Renault 40 was possibly also intended for Europe, the Torino logo adorned the grille of both variants, and stylistically IKA could be read on a cut-out in the front wings. The letter C on the number plate (RC 15172) indicates that this mock-up was built by Coggiola in Italy who often made models for Renault.

These are reminiscent of the design Renault launched in 1975 on the 20 and 30, and a year later on the 14. And the latter was also a creation of Robert Broyer. There are more details that refer to one of these two model series such as the bumpers with a wide rubber edge and bumper blocks on the underside. This shape can also seen on the 20/30, but the bumper blocks are extended further upwards. The positioning of the city lights/indicators next to these blocks is also applied on the 20/30.

The design of the front mudguard panels directly on the outside of the headlights/grille is very reminiscent of the Renault 14.

In order to free up archive space, almost all documents relating to the Renault 40 were lost. The car was mainly developed in the development department of RASA (Renault Argentina Sociedad Anónima). Nevertheless, four Torinos were sent to Renault's development department in Rueil because the Argentines lacked test facilities. The main focus was on the car's potential to be homologated as well as on safety and exhaust emissions. The only surviving rolling prototype can be seen today in the Museo de Industria in Cordoba. It is a white coupé. Under the bonnet lies the 6 cylinder Torino engine, and the interior was clearly tailored to the Argentine customer in terms of style. In order to save on production costs, the windshield of the Renault 12 was used.

In the end, the project was cancelled in the course of 1974, much to the chagrin of the development staff who had worked on it from the start. There were several reasons why the Renault 40 never saw the light of day. Argentina opened its borders to car imports, which would have made the competitive position of the Torino successor unfavourable soon after its launch. Rapid developments in exhaust standards and safety features meant that substantial additional investment would soon be required to bring the car up to standard. Of course the oil crisis in 1974 also threw a spanner in the works, and interest was lost in cars with larger displacements.

Finally, the obvious choice was made to continue production of the Torino in both body styles. Production only stopped in January 1982. From 1979, the Torino carried the Renault logo on its grille.