Renaultsport Twingo revealed

Is this the car that will save the reputation of Renault's baby? Following a lukewarm reception from city car fans, the firm's hopes rest on the hot Renaultsport version of the new Twingo to win customers over.

These are the first official pictures. As you can see, in RS form the Twingo is transformed from cute city car to aggressive hot hatch. Wider wheel arches feature all round, while low side skirts an oval exhaust complete the makeover.

Power comes from the firm's 1.6-litre petrol engine, tuned to produce 131bhp. Extensive chassis tuning has also been carried out to give the car the handling to match its feisty pace.

Renault describes its newest hot hatch to be "an affordable high performance car". Full performance details will be revealed when the car is revealed to the public at the Geneva Motor Show in March.