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Renault is marketing a special edition of its Twingo subcompact in partnership with the Sony Walkman. Apparently the Vuarnet and Members Only sponsorships fell through.
Though Sony's been branding portable audio with the Walkman name for 30 years, their latest products ditched cassettes and puffball headphones for MP3, video and Bluetooth. In Japan, the Walkman outsold the mighty iPod last year thanks to a lineup of feature-rich players.
You won't get one of those with the Twingo. As part of the Walkman package, the hatchback comes with an outdated 4GB Video Walkman that currently retails for $75 and a garish Sony XPlod receiver that looks like someone stole it out of a pizza delivery guy's Plymouth Acclaim.
Best of all, the head unit supports A2DP but -- unlike other highly capable Sony MP3 players -- the Walkman bundled with the package has not been visited by the Bluetooth Fairy. You're going to need a cord for this one.
Though the Twingo is almost a full six feet shorter than the Ford Crown Victoria, over the years it's been slapped with about as many promotional tie-ins. Unlike Ford's landau-laden Florida Edition and Presidential Package, the Twingo aims for a younger demographic. The Rip Curl Edition appealed to French surfers, the Nokia Edition to Symbian-loving smartphone users and the Art Collection to design-conscious Parisians.
To be fair, compared to other European city cars the Twingo Walkman Edition is pretty well equipped for €10,850 (around $14,800 at current exchange rates) complete with power windows, climate control and a decent radio. We just wish they'd hawked it to hipsters with a totally ironic TPS-L2 complete with a "hotline" button.
Photos: Renault
