RENAULT has shared plans to launch a brand new all-electric Twingo mannequin with decrease entry worth and power consumption than present battery electrical autos (BEV) from European and Chinese language producers, due for launch in 2026.
Developed by the French agency’s BEV division, Ampere, the brand new Twingo was revealed to buyers at a capital markets day with Renault chief government Luca de Meo calling it “a silver bullet for sustainable city mobility”.
The goal, in response to Renault, is to not solely provide an affordable electrical mobility possibility amidst tough cost-of-living situations in Europe, but additionally to make cash doing so – seemingly the trickier of the 2 outcomes to attain.
Whereas specs are skinny on the bottom, Renault claims the Twingo will provide as much as 75 per cent much less CO2 emissions throughout its lifetime and can use simply 10kWh per 100km – 50 per cent lower than many present BEVs.
The third-generation Twingo is anticipated to make use of the identical CMF-BEV platform as Renault’s different incoming electrical fashions, developed alongside Nissan.
Its bold 2026 launch date is geared toward showcasing Renault’s skill to outdo Chinese language producers which can be more and more fast to deploy new fashions, accelerating improvement to maintain tempo.
Whereas initially teasing a sticker worth of simply €20,000 ($A33,500), Renault can be a robust proponent of decentralised possession – in Europe the Zoe was bought individually to its leased battery pack – and Mr de Meo instructed a month-to-month worth of lower than €100 ($A167), presumably for these wishing to lease the Twingo.
Borrowing closely from the unique Twingo, launched in 1992 as a cute metropolis runabout with a space-efficient design and fuel-sipping powertrain, the brand new idea has the identical spherical headlights and three bonnet vents – though they not present airflow, as an alternative exhibiting cost stage.
The daring third-generation Twingo idea comes 125 years after Louis Renault, a younger mechanic on the time, additionally took of venture to construct the primary ever Renault mannequin – the cart-like Voiturette.
It appears Renault’s BEV efforts borrow from the identical need to be totally different that Mr Renault himself lived by when he transformed a Dion-Bouton tricycle into a light-weight four-wheeled metropolis automotive.
So daring was Mr Renault again in 1898 that he and some pals piled into his tiny contraption to deal with the steepest street in Paris – Rue Lepic – in a ploy to market the car.
The little Voiturette motored up the street with ease, stunning onlookers, which led to an inflow of orders that very same day and finally the forming of Renault Group.
Parallels to Renault’s authentic design ethos will be drawn with the Twingo, as Mr de Meo urged customers to once more think about small, gentle, minimalistic automobiles for city use, suggesting two-plus-tonne autos are untenable for inner-city mobility.
“We’ve to return to smaller automobiles,” he stated.
“As an alternative of speaking about it, I am presenting an answer that’s possible, and that’s the Twingo.”
The small automotive sentiment is one Mr de Meo has possible held for a while, after heading up Fiat within the 2000s, saying the Twingo reminds him of the favored Fiat 500.
Whereas it isn’t but recognized whether or not Australia will obtain the brand new Twingo mannequin, the rising urge for food for cut-price Chinese language electrical automobiles Down Beneath suggests a compelling enterprise case for a equally low-cost European mannequin.
