Classic 4 reborn as electric crossover
Retro-styled 4ever will arrive alongside 5 electric supermini to replace Zoe in 2024
Renault will revive the classic 4 with a retrostyled model called the 4ever, which will join the 5 and the Mégane E-tech Electric as one of seven new EVS it will launch by 2025.
With a design inspired by the supermini produced from 1961 to 1994, the 4ever will be based on the same CMF-BEV platform as the reborn 5 supermini (due in 2024) but will take the form of a compact crossover.
It will also spawn a small commercial variant inspired by the Fourgonnette panel van.
Renault has confirmed that the new small EVS will effectively replace today’s Zoe supermini when production of that model finishes in 2024.
It claims that new battery tech will allow it to cut prices by a third, suggesting starting figures of around £18,500.
All future Renault EVS will be based on one of two Renaultnissan-mitsubishi Alliance platforms: CMF-BEV, which
JAMES ATTWOOD
is a development of the Zoe’s underpinnings, and the larger CMF-EV, which will be used for the new Mégane and another, as yet unnamed crossover.
Production will be centred at Renault’s new Electricity hub in northern France, which incorporates three factories and will be supported by a new battery plant in Douai.
Built in conjunction with Envision AESC, which has also partnered Nissan in the UK (see p13), it will open in 2024 with an output of 9GWH and a plan to reach 24GWH by 2030.
Renault will use two battery types, standardised around nickel manganese and cobalt (NMC) chemistry, which it says offers the lowest cost per mile and yields up to 20% longer range than other elements.
The firm aims to reach a cost of $100 (£77) per kwh by 2025, improving to $80 (£58) per kwh by 2030, when it hopes to introduce solid-state batteries.