The Mégane has been offered in three- and five-door hatchback, saloon, coupé, convertible and estate bodystyles at various points in its lifetime, and having been through four generations is now in its fifth incarnation.

The car was essentially a reskin of its predecessor, and carried over the 19's floorpan, engines, transmissions and chassis design, albeit with much modification.

Taking its name from a Renault concept car shown in 1988, the Mégane further developed the new corporate styling theme introduced by Patrick Le Quément on the Laguna, most notably the "bird beak" front grille – a styling cue borrowed from the Renault 16 of the 1960s.

Renault decided to add an acute accent to the vehicle name (Mégane), in order to assert its European identity, in a context of growing competition of newer car manufacturers coming from Japan.

It featured a pillar mounted three-point seatbelt for the middle rear occupant (replacing the common 'lap strap'), standard front belt pre tensioners and load limiters, driver's airbag (passenger airbag from 1996) and an impressive safety structure – a specification ahead of all rivals in 1995, e.g. VW Golf Mk 3, Opel Astra F, Ford Escort etc.

Power came from the Renault E type ("Energy") engine in 1.4 L and 1.6 L, and the F-type unit in both 1.9 L diesel and 2.0 L petrol forms, although this time around there was a wider variety of 16 valve derivatives.

The Renaultsport kit was available to purchase for a short time direct from Renault France, but has now been discontinued, thus their value has increased.

[citation needed] A mild facelift in spring 1999 gave the Mégane I a modified grille, more advanced safety features and upgraded equipment, and 16 valve engines were used across the range.

The production continued for the Latin America Market, where it was sold alongside the Mégane II line at a considerably lower price until 2011.

However, rivals such as Citroën and Peugeot soon introduced bigger and more powerful cars, which resulted in Renault producing an F2 version of the Mégane in 1996.

The Maxi Mégane officially represented the brand in French Championship rallies in 1996 and 1997 with drivers like Philippe Bugalski, Jean Ragnotti or Serge Jordan, and the British Rally Championship from 1996 to 1999, with Grégoire De Mévius, Alain Oreille, Robbie Head, Martin Rowe, and Tapio Laukkanen.

Its most notable result was an outright victory in the 1996 Tour de Corse in the hands of Philippe Bugalski and his co driver Jean-Paul Chiaroni (in a year where the Tour de Corse was a FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup only event);[14] but it also helped Renault to the FIA 2 Litre World Rally Cup of Manufacturer's title in 1999.

In Brazil, Renault launched a flex fuel version, called "Hi-Flex", which is able to run either with unleaded petrol or ethanol.

Like the Brazilian Scénic and Clio versions, the Mégane's engine can work with any mix of petrol and ethanol, due to the use of an electronic control module.

The RenaultSport (RS) versions of the three door and five door Mégane hatchbacks were introduced, equipped with a turbocharged petrol 2.0 L 16v engine producing 225 PS (165 kW; 222 hp) and Turbocharged diesel 2.0L dCi 16V engine producing 175 PS (129 kW;173 hp).

The Hatchback model was revised at Motor Show Brussels in January 2006, the Wagon and Convertible model was debut at Geneva Motor Show in March 2006, with changes in interior trim (e.g. a new revised instrument cluster with the speedometer moved to the right and the tachometer moved to the left), specification levels and most notably, a new front nose.

A new front suspension system borrowed from the Mégane 2.0 225 PS (165 kW; 222 hp) was adopted, improving the driving performance.

The Mégane GT Line is a sporty trim level that is equipped, among other things, with a sports suspension and unique blue paint.

[40] The Mégane Coupe Cabriolet Floride was a special edition convertible in ivory with red and ivory two-tone interior, intended as a tribute to 1960s chic – the name is a reference to the Renault Floride of that era The fourth generation Mégane was launched at the September 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show,[44] production started late 2015,[45] with sales starting in July 2016.

[46][47] An estate version (Mégane Sport Tourer/Grandtour, codenamed KFB)[48] was revealed at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show.

Options include adaptive cruise control, automated emergency braking, lane departure warning, speed limit warning, blind spot monitoring, automatic headlights, reversing camera, parking sensors and a hands free parking system.

Within Europe, it is offered in several countries including Turkey, Italy, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Serbia, Greece, Georgia and Ireland, but neither France[52] or the United Kingdom.

[52] The Mégane GT is a high performance version based on the hatchback model with 1.6-litre I4 diesel and petrol powertrains.

As standard, it incorporates a four-wheel steering system (4Control) and dual-clutch automatic gearbox with optional paddle shifting.

[54] Making its public debut on May 24, 2019, at the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix,[55] the Mégane RS Trophy-R is a limited edition based on the regular Trophy.

[57] Announced in January 2023, the Mégane RS Ultime is a limited edition available in just 1,976 units, as a reference to the founding year of Renault Sport.

[58] All are signed by Laurent Hurgon, a test driver who has broken several lap records in the Mégane RS and was actively involved in the development of the model.

[59] It is the last RS-badged model and made its public debut at the 2023 Tokyo Motor Show,[60] marking the 20th anniversary of the Mégane RS series, which was first introduced in 2003.

[63] It combines the 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with two electric motors for a total system output of 158 hp (160 PS; 118 kW) and comes with a 9.8 kWh battery that allows it to run on electricity for 50 km (31 mi) and up to a top speed of 135 km/h (84 mph) in the mixed WLTP test cycle and for 65 km (40 mi) in the city.

In September 2020, the rebadged version of the South Korean-made Renault Samsung XM3/Arkana was launched in former Yugoslavian countries as the Mégane Conquest due to negative connotations with the Serbian historical war criminal Arkan.