New Renault 5 design can last "20 years", say designers

The “retro futuristic” shape of the new Renault 5 E-Tech does more than merely remind people of the great days of the original R5, according to its designers.

Group design boss Laurens van den Acker believes it gives the marque an iconic look and shape with the same kind of long-lasting ability as the BMW Mini or Fiat 500; perhaps even the Porsche 911.

The adoption of the new R5 shape was a highly pragmatic decision made by group CEO Luca de Meo when he first arrived in the company three and a half years ago. The concept was already complete in the design studio, having been created on spec by designers who realised the company needed to replace both Clio and Twingo, and couldn’t afford to do both.

The new 5 was their answer — and as van den Acker explains — de Meo seized it as the emblem for his now-famous Renaulution plan.

Van den Acker believes Renault will reap big benefits from using an emotional, retro-modern design, but he acknowledges there could be problems at replacement time for companies who have such designs — and nothing else. Renault isn’t in that position, he says. “We have other B-segment models,” he explains. “Led by Luca, we believe the 5 could go 20 years. But the Clio will change with the times.”

The production version of the Renault 5 was unveiled earlier this week at the Geneva motor show, as the first in a wave of retro electric cars coming from the French brand over the next few years.

As promised, the road car is a faithful translation of the acclaimed concept from 2021, taking heavy inspiration from the original 1970s Renault 5, and it will eventually be joined in dealerships by evolved versions of the similarly nostalgic Renault 4Ever and Twingo concepts.

Renault is aiming to defend its position in the increasingly competitive small car market, and the 5 E-Tech is testament to the company’s commitment to providing affordable cars in the EV era.

The launch price of €25,000 (approximately £21,400) in Europe is expected to translate to less than £25,000 when it arrives in the UK early next year. That will make it one of the most affordable electric cars on the market, undercutting even today’s cheapest, the £26,140 BYD Dolphin.

The 5 is based on a new EV architecture dubbed Ampr Small (formerly CMF-BEV), which shares much of its core structure with that used for the Nissan Juke and Renault Clio.

Using the fundamentals of an existing platform is said to have cut development costs by 30%, compared with engineering a bespoke platform like that which underpins the £28,195 electric Fiat 500.

Renault engineers say driver engagement was a priority in the development of the 5, which is why it has multi-link suspension at the rear, rather than the torsion beam design used on the Clio.

Jean-Sébastien Blazy, vice-president for vehicle performance, previously told Autocar: “This is our secret in order to give our car very good agility and very good steering response, and to ensure the stability of the car in extreme manoeuvres, like avoiding a kid or an event on the road.”

Blazy added that the 5 “will be totally comparable in terms of vehicle dynamics with the Mégane [E-Tech]”.

However, engineers acknowledge that the larger EV’s steering is criticised for being “too sensitive”, so the 5’s rack has been slackened from a 12:1 ratio to 13:7.

Prioritising dynamics – as well as the need to pack lots of electrical kit into a body slightly smaller than that of the Clio, at 3.92m long and 1.8m wide – spurred several key developments to reduce weight and space.

The 5’s new motor, for example, uses a new inverter that cuts 15kg in mass and 3cm in length. The nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries, meanwhile, use a simplified layout in which cells are batched into larger square-shaped modules.

The 40kWh pack uses three modules with 31 cells apiece, with a total weight of 240kg, while the 52kWh pack gets four groups of 46 cells, totalling 300kg.

As such, the 5 tips the scales at just 1372kg with the entry-level 40kWh battery. The original Zoe had around half that capacity (22kWh) yet weighed nearly 100kg more, at 1468kg.

With the bigger 52kWh pack, the 5 weighs 1449kg, on a par with the rival Peugeot e-208. Renault’s engineers are bullish about the performance implications of these weight reduction efforts. One told Autocar that the e-208 was used as a benchmark in tests at Renault’s track in Aubevoye and the 5 was around 13mph faster through 60mph-plus bends.