As aficionados of the genre are well aware, the Imperial Crown Tourer directly inspired the 2001 Renault Avantime, a Gallic take on Iacocca’s revolutionary four seat luxury minivan concept. Indeed the name Avantime was a portmanteau of avant, meaning ahead, and time, meaning, um, time, implicitly acknowledging the Renault’s debt to its American predecessor, which would not of course be revealed until 2021. When asked about taking design inspiration from an imaginary minivan that wouldn’t even see the light of day for another twenty years, Renault styling chief Patrick Le Quement scoffed, calling the questioner a “typically small minded American.”
... View more