Automotive News reports, citing sources familiar with Renault’s plans, that the new model will hit the market in 2026. It will be a battery-powered city car with an affordable price, which will be inferior in size to the revived R5. The production site was chosen to be a plant in the city of Novo Mesto in Slovenia, where the electric Renault Twingo is already being produced.
Renault intends to accelerate the development of its electric model line-up amid growing competition from China. To achieve this, the Renault Group has created an electric vehicle division, Ampere, which will develop six electric models by the end of the decade. One of them will be an inexpensive compact city car, its appearance on the market is expected in two years. Ampere plans to increase production volumes of electric vehicles to 600 thousand in 2026 and to a million in 2031.
For comparison, in 2022, when Renault had such electric models as Megane and Kangoo in its arsenal, it sold less than 50 thousand electric cars. In 2024, the line will be replenished with several more “green” cars – Scenic and R5. And in 2025, they will be joined by the revived R4.
The Renault R5 prototype was shown back in 2021: it was an electric hatchback, the design of which referred to the model of the same name, produced from 1972 to 1996. And the history of the R4 dates back even earlier, in 1961, when the Renault 4L, aka Quatrelle, appeared on the market. So both future production electric cars are inspired by the cult models of the French brand.
Electroshock: new “battery-powered” products
