Renault is getting ready for the full reveal of its all-electric recreation of the Renault 4 at the Paris Motor Show in two weeks’ time, and the French car maker is starting to reveal some of the juicy details of the retro-look crossover.
The original crossover?
The biggest of which is that, just like the original Renault 4, the new electric version will get a full-length fabric sunroof, making it almost a convertible (if you’re feeling generous). On that score alone, the new R4 EV has become possibly our favourite car of 2025…
More seriously, we’re getting something of a feel for the new R4 EV thanks to some teaser images and a smattering of technical details. Renault has confirmed that the R4 EV will be 4.14 metres long, making it a pretty compact model within the crossover world (like the original Renault 4, this one will kind of straddle the gap between a traditional hatchback and what we now think of as a crossover - you could argue that the original was the first crossover, given its long-travel suspension).
The R4 EV also uses the same AmpR small car electric platform as the slightly smaller R5 EV, which should give it a roughly 400km range on a full charge.
Sticks to concept’s looks
Style-wise, it’s clear even from the limited images that the production R4 sticks closely to the look both of the original car and the concept 4EVER Trophy concept car we saw two years ago.
Up front, there’s a broad but shallow grille, oblong in shape, with delicate round LED headlights at each end. At the rear, a stylised 4 logo sits next to ‘pill-shaped’ LED tail lights that protrude from the edges of the boot, just like the original.
Above those lights, there’s a rhombus-shaped quarter window above the rear wheel, again a signature style of the original Renault 4, while down the sides are three sculpted, debossed lines which are meant to evoke the plastic cladding fitted to later Renault 4 models.
Above the front wheelarches, there are black decals, topped with a tiny French tricolour, which are meant to remind us of the original’s styling, while the upright tailgate and the protruding rear spoiler and meant to evoke the original Renault 4’s chunky roof gutters. That tailgate is a deep once, incidentally, and Renault says that the new R4 EV has a very low loading lip, so it looks as if the practical nature of the first Renault 4 hasn’t been forgotten.
No chrome
One retro touch which has been thrown away is any use of exterior chrome - it’s not cool and it’s not environmentally friendly, so there’s no bright trim on the exterior - but look closely at the front bumper and you’ll spot little rubber vertical ‘overriders’ which are a tribute to the chrome items of the original.
As Renault points out, the first Renault 4 was a hugely important car to the brand and its customers: “The 1961 Renault 4 revolutionised the automotive market and went on to achieve emblematic status. It was Renault’s first family car with a front-mounted engine, and had no transmission tunnel so its floor was flat. It became the par-excellence roomy and resourceful car for driving around cities and the countrywide, on weekdays and weekends, to work and on holidays. It was a car for its time and place, and fit right into a society in flux. And it was an overnight hit: it became a people’s-choice car in more than 100 countries and Renault went on to produce over eight million Renault 4 cars.”
Will the new electric Renault 4 be as important? We’ll start to find out in Paris…