Renault has caught the retro fever. In 2025 it will come with a modern, electric interpretation of the classic 4 and even a real fourgonette van will appear, just like before. But the French will launch their first electric retro rakker next year, in the form of the long-awaited 5.
Highlights
On the market in 2024Cheaper than the ZoeAlso as a sporty Alpine
You must have been living under a rock if you were ignorant of the arrival of a new and fully electric Renault 5. At least, you almost have to, given the attention that Renault has paid to it lately. The French kicked off 2021 with a bang by lifting the 5 Prototype onto the digital stage, a study model in the form of an electric reinterpretation of the 5′ that appeared in 1972. It soon turned out that study model was much more than just a creative splurge. There will be a production model, which has many similarities with the prototype. Renault has even released photos of the definitive electric 5 into the world, on which it was very visible. So good, in fact, that our illustrator didn’t have to sweat too hard behind the laptop on a digital representation of the electric 5′.
Fidelity
The 5, which will appear at the beginning of next year and will be available at dealers not much later, is very similar to the 5 Prototype from two years ago. Like the concept model, the rear door handles are hidden in the C-pillars. A strip runs across the entire width of the buttocks in which the brand name Renault is written in a strikingly small font. To its right we see a stylized ‘5’. The taillights are completed in a similar way to the 5 Prototype. Unlike the first and second generation of the old R5, the license plate is not in the tailgate, but one floor lower in the rear bumper. Unlike the 5 Prototype, the handles of the front doors are not recessed into the doors, but rather conventional in shape. Furthermore, the small wing mirrors of the study model have been replaced by larger ones. The elevation in the front cover of the 5 Prototype is also retained and that is a funny reference to the air grille in the bonnet of the original 5. The tailgate is located in the left front screen.
Renault 5 (illustration: Larson)
No expensive retro look
Although Renault makes the 5 a kek gadget, the brand will soon park it in the heart of the electric B segment. Renault stays away from Mini-like situations, where you as a customer have to pay a lot for the retro look. In fact, the 5 should get a bare European starting price that is lower than the price of the Zoe. The Renault 5 will not be an addition to the current delivery range. He has to push the Zoe out of the range, which will have been on the market for twelve years when the Renault 5 entered the market.
To keep development costs down, Renault is building the 5 on the CMF-B EV platform. That is a platform intended for EVs, but 70 percent of that modular basis is shared with the CMF-B platform that you know from the Clio and the Captur. Renault promises a low center of gravity – it’s an EV after all – multi-link rear suspension and a battery pack that’s lighter than the Zoe’s. We also now know that its electric motor is a derivative of the power source that serves in the Megane E-Tech Electric.
Once on the market, the Renault 5 will face its internationally extremely popular compatriot: the Peugeot e-208. And that also means that the Opel Corsa Electric and the electric successor to the Citroën C3 also compete with the retro Renault. Perhaps even greater is the danger that will come from Germany in 2025. From Wolfsburg, to be precise. After all, Volkswagen will present the ID.2 in 2025, which – if successful – will have a starting price of less than €25,000, with a range of up to 450 kilometers in the best case scenario. In terms of frivolity, the ID.2 and R5 are miles apart in any case. The ID.2 promises to be a deadly serious model, and we are not used to that from the ID family. Just like the Renault 5, the ID.2 will soon be a front-wheel drive.
From Renault 5 to Nissan Micra
Has Renault found another way to translate the legend of the 5 Turbo into the present? No, but in a roundabout way. After all, the sporty sister brand Alpine comes with a nice extreme 5. The technology that you will find under the new Renault 5 will eventually also be in Nissan’s warehouse. The compact Frenchman will therefore have a brother in the form of the next Nissan Micra. This further dissemination of the technology developed for the 5 should help keep it relatively affordable. We will know at the beginning of next year whether Renault has succeeded in that mission.
2023-08-13 08:00:24
#Renault #fun #cheaper #Zoe #Preview #AutoWeek
