Renault has revealed that it plans to revive its smallest model of recent years, the Twingo, as an electric vehicle (EV). Designed to sit below the forthcoming - and similarly resurrected - 4 and 5 EVs, this Twingo concept could be put into production as early as 2026 and is targeted to have a starting price of less than €20,000.
Incredibly efficient electric motor
As part of a conference at Renault's Boulogne-Billancourt headquarters, the French company announced the start of an EV-focused subsidiary called Ampere, which will be responsible for all its zero-emission vehicles going forward. Already with the Megane E-Tech and incoming Scenic E-Tech in its wheelhouse, as well as the highly anticipated re-visioned takes on the 4 and 5 models, it teased a fifth car for Ampere called the 'Legend'.
And that turned out to be this little gem. With its style taking clear inspiration from the original Mk1 Twingo, which launched in 1993 and lasted until 2007, Renault's CEO Luca de Meo described the new car as a "fit-for-purpose urban vehicle with no compromise". It will be built on a purpose-built EV platform called the AmpR Small, which will also be used to underpin the forthcoming 4 and 5, and this is the current CMF-B EV renamed.
While stats for the revived Twingo EV are thin on the ground, Renault is happy to confirm that the target is for it to do 10km for every kilowatt-hour of battery power used (10kWh/100km WLTP). That means Renault says the car will have 75 per cent lower CO2 emissions than the 'average' European internal-combustion car sold in 2023 over the course of its lifetime. Much of that is thanks to a low level of raw materials consumption in the construction of the Twingo EV, given its tiny size.
Cute looks, affordable price tag
It will fit into the range below the Renault 5 EV, which is already slated to have a €25,000 starting price. Renault has said that the sub-€20,000 Twingo will be built in Europe and could be in production by 2026, although it isn't 100 per cent confirmed it will go on sale as the Twingo when it does eventually make it to market.
However, it looks very likely it will take that nameplate, given the 'Legend' concept had Twingo badges. With its smiley, frog-faced front end and hooped rear lights, it's a properly appealing little shape, which should compete in the super-affordable EV market sector up against the Citroen e-C3 and Dacia Spring - and it is that latter car, from a company closely affiliated with Renault, which provides the cheap EV learnings for the Twingo to be a big success.
One interesting detail on the show car is a gauge on the bonnet, just below the base of the windscreen, which shows the remaining battery charge in the Twingo EV.
Renault used the announcement of the Twingo and Ampere to say that, after the initial five models outlined above, another two products will launch by 2031, bringing its electric-car content up to seven. It is currently targeting a circa-300,000 sales figure for EVs in 2025 but wants to ramp that up to one million vehicles by 2031.