Rejoice! The new Renault Twingo will be just as adorable as the concept
The first body-on prototypes of Renault’s affordable EV have been spotted, and they look just as cute as the show car
Our spies have finally caught the new Renault Twingo testing in prototype form before its full reveal next year. The city-sized model is an all-electric take on the original from the early nineties, and our spy shots reveal it has lost little of what made the concept and the original such an icon.
But this new baby EV will have a big job to do when it does arrive, because it’ll rival lots of similarly sized EVs that will be joining the segment over the coming years. These include in-house rivals that share its platform, such as the next Dacia Spring and a future Nissan city car, but its biggest threat will come from across the border in Germany, with Volkswagen putting its finishing touches to the ID.1, which is due in 2027.
All will cost from around £17,000, we’re told, making this a class to watch in the coming 18 months.
What’s changed between prototype and Concept?
It’s one thing to design a lavish concept car and proclaim it to be a future model, but it’s quite another to translate that into something you can actually buy in a showroom – especially at such a low price point.
However, to Renault’s credit it already looks to have kept those changes to an absolute minimum. So while we can spot a few differences between concept and reality, it should be just as cute as the show car – and the nineties icon both are based on.
A key difference we can see is the prototype’s slightly taller roofline, giving the road car larger windows and doors. As well as helping with visibility and cabin access, it should also increase interior space, which is always at a premium in such a small package.
The rest, though, is pretty much as we can see on the concept, highlighted by its tiny overhangs and silhouette. It’s what’s called a monobox – a car in which the bonnet and windscreen create an almost straight line from nose to header rail, giving it the look of a tiny van. But the contemporary details appear to have survived as well, including the three-dimensional LED lighting, an oval-shaped rear window and the sculpted bodywork beneath it.
The concept’s three air vents on the bonnet can’t quite be seen under the camouflage, but we’ve been told they will almost certainly remain as another nod to the Mk1 Twingo.
There are some substantial differences to the original of course. For instance the new model will have five doors rather than three, and the road car will have traditional pull handles on all four doors, unlike the concept’s hidden items in the C-pillar.
We’ve already seen the new Twingo’s interior, and despite being affordable, it won’t scrimp on design or features. It’s due to feature a pair of large digital displays on the dashboard, plus a small bank of physical buttons and rotary dials for the climate control. Fans of the original will also be glad to see a return of the sliding and folding rear seats, unlocking extra versatility.
You’ll need to wait a while before you can buy the new Twingo, but there are plenty of other great Renault deals available via the Auto Express Find A Car service. Check our our latest Renault 4, Renault 5 and Renault Clio deals.
Renault Twingo powertrain and charging details
We know that the new Renault Twingo will sit on the same AmpR Small platform as the reborn Renault 5 and Renault 4, plus the next Nissan Micra. Former Renault CEO Luca De Meo promised the budget electric city car will deliver “best-in-class efficiency” of up to 6.2 miles per kilowatt-hour, but details about its powertrain are yet to be confirmed.
The Renault 5 offers up to 193 miles of range, powered by a 118bhp e-motor and a 40kWh battery. But the Twingo is set to introduce a cheaper, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery. Although this chemistry doesn’t pack as much energy as the NMC batteries powering the R4 and R5, clever design means more cells can be packed into the wheelbase to deliver sufficient range – maybe up to 200 miles.
Assuming the Twingo gets a 40kWh pack and the same 80kW maximum charging speed as the base R5, a 10 to 80 per cent top-up will take around half an hour.
How can the Renault Twingo be developed in just two years?
When the Renault Twingo concept was unveiled in 2023, de Meo boldly promised it would go from concept to production in just two years to match the speed of Chinese car makers, and bring the budget EV to market in 2026.
To help achieve this ambitious timeframe, and reduce the cost of the project, the Twingo is being developed with help of a Chinese engineering partner. In an exclusive interview with Auto Express, sales director of Renault France and former managing director of the brand in the UK, Guillaume Sicard, revealed: “We have our engineering over in France in the Techno Centre that is working in partnership with an engineering consultancy firm in China so we can work 24/7.
“It also means we double the forces working on the project because we have two engineering centres, and the Chinese have a very speedy way of iterations and fixing issues. They go extremely quickly to take decisions, they force their process to go quickly and are a bit ahead of us in terms of technology on many aspects.”
He continued: “The Techno Center in Paris will be in charge of all the coordination, and will be in charge of some aspects, specifically everything that is related to the brand's fundamentals, such as the design and so on. Then after that the Chinese consultancy firm will be in charge of some specific developments for the battery, the motor, the software.”
But while Renault’s Ampere division is still the MC, or “master of ceremony”, on the Twingo, according to Sicard, one benefit he sees in having a Chinese engineering consultancy firm involved is “it’s discovering new suppliers that can propose on-the-shelf solutions. I'm pretty sure we will have some on-the-shelf solutions that have proven to be efficient for a BYD, human horizons or whatever. We will probably have a few.”
He added: “It’s an open world and we have to bring the best to our customers. Our customers want the best of technology at the best price.”
How much will the Renault Twingo cost?
The Renault Twingo will have a starting price of under 20,000 Euros, which equates to roughly £17,000 at the current exchange rate and would make it one of the cheapest electric cars on the market. Thanks to its low list price, Renault claims the Twingo will also be available from less than 100 Euros per month (under £90).
How does the Twingo compare with its chief rivals? Prices for the new Renault 5 start from exactly £22,995, while the Citroen e-C3 – winner of our Affordable Electric Car of the Year award in 2024 – is available from less than £22k. The cheapest EV currently on sale is the £15k Dacia Spring.
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