The Renault Zoe won’t get a new generation as part of the French automaker’s effort to simplify its offerings in the B-Segment. The small electric hatchback, first introduced back in 2012, will be discontinued after the end of the current model’s lifecycle, giving way to the upcoming R5 and the next Clio models.

The news was confirmed by Fabrice Cambolive, Renault’s Chief Operation Officer, who spoke to Autocar about the French automaker’s future product plans. Cambolive revealed that Renault’s fully electric and hybrid models will co-exist in the foreseeable future. More specifically, he said that “if needed”, the Clio and the Captur will remain part of the Renault lineup until 2035, as hybrid alternatives to the retro-styled R5 and R4 EV equivalents, which are expected to arrive in 2025. This leaves no room for a Zoe replacement, leading to its demise.

Read: Renault Zoe EV Gets Mild Updates For 2022

The similarly-sized Renault Clio, Zoe, and R5 concept

Cambolive suggested that the “perfect line-up” for the European market would consist of four EVs and four hybrids, with a single powertrain and two/three trim levels for each model. Reading between the lines, he probably means the R5, R4, Megane, and Scenic completing the EV front, with the Clio, Captur, Arkana, and Austral making the case for hybrids.

Back in January 2021, Laurens van den Acker, executive vice-president of Renault Group made a contradicting statement about the Zoe while speaking to Autocar: “Is it the end of the Zoe? The answer is no, because the Zoe is the best-selling EV in Europe. So, it would be silly to stop vehicles that are best-selling in their segment.”

Acker’s comments reflected on the 380,000 units of the Zoe sold between 2012 and 2022, making it the best-selling EV in Europe during the past decade, at least according to Renault. However, despite the facelift in 2019 which gave it a longer range, the supermini has started feeling a little bit dated compared to the newer competition. Also, if it remained on sale it would face severe internal competition from the similarly-sized and more competitively priced Renault 5.

Renault hasn’t confirmed when it will cease production of the Zoe which was last updated in June 2022 gaining a new trim structure and more standard kit. The model’s age and poor ADAS kit played a crucial role in the embarrassing zero-star safety rating by EuroNCAP last December.