2020 Renault City K-ZE: Small Electric Crossover Pops Up In Shanghai

Renault is delving deeper into China’s electric car segment with the City K-ZE, which was unveiled at the 2019 Shanghai Auto Show.

Shown first in concept form as last year’s Paris Auto Show, it’s a small crossover with modern exterior styling and a driver-focused cockpit that comes with an 8-inch infotainment system, remote access, 4G Wi-Fi, smart voice recognition and air conditioning.

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Full specs have yet to be released, but Renault says it has a fast-charging capability that allows it to fill its battery from 0 to 80 percent in 50 minutes. In slow charge, users will have to wait four hours to get to 100 percent. It is understood that it can travel for roughly 250 km (155 miles) between charges in the NEDC standard, like its Venucia e30 sibling.

With a 150 mm (5.9 in) ground clearance, 2,423 mm (95.4 in) long wheelbase and 300-liter (10.6 cu-ft) boot space, the new City K-ZE is Renault’s smallest EV. It slots under the Zoe and, according to the automaker, has been built to “high European quality standards”.

The City K-ZE is will be manufactured locally by the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and Dongfeng joint venture, called the eGT New Energy Automotive Co. Ltd, and local sales will start before the end of the year. The small EV is part of the French company’s ambitions to increase sales in China, where it plans to sell 550,000 vehicles annually by 2022, as revealed in the ‘Drive the Future’ plan.