Get a Nokia with your Renault

Renault has announced a special edition of its Twingo small car, the Twingo Nokia, complete with complementary 6110 Navigator and naff decals.

We in Australia are happy adopters of trends from overseas -- first from the UK, then the US and Europe, and now increasingly from Asia. There are reasons enough to fill several cultural studies PhDs, but we suspect it has much to do with our history as a migrant country, as well as our deep-seated cultural cringe.

Scouring our favourite auto blogs the other night we found a trend that (thankfully) never really caught on here; that of the co-branded car. Although we did give it a red-hot go back in the '80s with models like the Holden Barina Sportsgirl and Nissan Pulsar Reebok.

Overseas, though, the co-branding thing is still in vogue. Witness the Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson: a massive sod-the-environment pick-up truck emblazoned liberally with Harley logos. If Ford's mind-meld with Harley-Davidson is aiming for bikies who need to haul their caravans around on the weekend then, presumably, Renault is aiming for nerds who need to haul ass to get their Xbox 360s fixed with its new Twingo Nokia.

The Twingo is Renault's entry in the Yaris/Barina-class. With the Nokia edition, the Twingo gets some worthy upgrades: a free Nokia 6110 Navigator phone, a Bluetooth hands-free kit and an upgraded stereo which is compatible with both 6110s and iPods. It's all goodness until you notice the decals that Renault and Nokia have applied to the window frame (see below).

There are currently no plans to bring the Twingo to Australia, which is a shame. If Renault changes its mind, we'd recommend sending some Twingo Nokias here but without the nerd advertisement.