Reborn all-electric Renault 5 due in 2024
Renault has confirmed that the new 5 hatchback will hit showrooms in 2024.
It will launch with a 100kW motor borrowed from the currentgeneration Zoe attached to the front axle, along with a new nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) battery, which will apparently reduce the cost per kWh to roughly $115 by 2030 when the technology becomes more widely adopted. The battery will offer a range of roughly 400km.
The new CMF-BEV platform, which will also underpin the forthcoming Nissan Micra EV, and the batterywill together allow Renault to sell the 5 for about a third less than a Zoe, which will be replaced by the new 5.
Renault dropped the Zoe after a rather dismal zero-star safety rating earlier this year. When we last tested it, at the end of 2021, it was selling for $66,990. If Renault New Zealand can maintain that 33% reduction, you could reasonably expect to pay under $40k for a Renault 5. That could make it the cheapest new EV in New Zealand, but a lot needs to happen before Renault NZ can confirm the pricing, if the hatchback evenmakes it here.
The 5 EV takes many design cues from the original 5, produced from 1972 to 1996, previewed in 2021 as a concept. It bore square-shaped headlights, square intakes with LED outlining and an interesting black patch on the bonnet near the windscreen.
Around the back are a lot of LED strakes, two extending across the hatch to meet and create a stylised 5 logo. ‘‘Renault’’ is spelt out in LEDs near the bottom of the rear end.
A red stripe running along the roof’s edge looks like a nod to the Renault 5 GT Turbo from back in the day, hinting at highperformance variant.
Renault actually teased such a model recently, also bearing the Turbo suffix. It looked brilliant and had power to back the looks up – 280kW of power, alongwith 700Nm of torque sent straight to the rear wheels.
It almost certainly won’t see production, but Renault confirmed to Autocar UK that there are plans for a 200kW motor to begin production in 2027.
Alpine, Renault’s performance sub-brand, is working on its own take on the R5, so we should eventually get something sporty out of the reborn hatch. It will allegedly use the same 160kW/300Nm powertrain as the Megane E-Tech Electric, but with some special Alpine sauce.
Renault is also looking at launching 14 ‘‘core vehicles’’ by 2025. Expect most, if not all, of these to be electrified. One of these will be a new Renault 4 supermini.