Renault Twingo, return in electric and 'low cost' format

The electrification of the European vehicle fleet will only receive a decisive boost if it can democratize access to electric cars with rational products at affordable prices that meet the real needs of the population. Renault knows that the future of electric cars lies in affordable, urban electric models, and they have decided to revive the Twingo, a very popular city car in the 1990s that failed to reinvent itself in recent generations, transforming it into a fully electric model with a design very similar to the original.

The Twingo will be, above all, an affordable vehicle. Renault will be able to offer its small electric city car for under €20,000, and with government subsidies and incentives, its final price could approach €13,000. To offer this product at this price, the French manufacturer has taken advantage of the mechanical and technological platform first used in the fantastic R5, and will utilize the reinterpretation of the electric 4L or Quattro Lates to build the foundation of this new Twingo.

The new Twingo E-TECH will use an 82 hp electric motor with 175 Nm of torque, paired with 27.5 kWh LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries to offer a range of 263 kilometers on the WLTP homologation cycle. This power and range should be sufficient to move the car's 3.7 meters in length and 1,200 kilograms with ease in urban and semi-urban environments. Furthermore, this Twingo comes standard with a 6.6 kW charging point that allows the battery to be charged from 10% to 100% in just four hours, and an optional 50 kW charging package is available, enabling the batteries to be fully charged in only half an hour.

At first glance, the new Twingo is already appealing, as Renault's designers have managed to replicate the simplicity of the original Twingo design from 35 years ago and combine it with an interesting and well-chosen color range (red, yellow, black and green) and designer wheels up to 18 inches.

The Twingo's interior, approved for four occupants, is surprisingly spacious, boasting a 360-liter trunk, individual seats with adjustable support that can slide up to seventeen centimeters for maximum comfort. The interior materials are hard plastic, although it does feature a seven-inch digital instrument cluster and a ten-inch central touchscreen with the OpenR Link multimedia system.

This Twingo E-TECH will be manufactured in Slovakia, and Renault hopes it will become a benchmark in the A-segment, just like the first Twingo in the early 1990s. Its advantages include the price, yet to be confirmed, and the fact that the brand claims the model will have offset its production emissions after 30,000 kilometers, making it one of the most sustainable and environmentally friendly models ever made.