Renault is resurrecting the 5 supermini as an EV for 2024, but while we’ve seen the concept car and a Clio-based test mule, we’ve never caught the real thing testing – until now.
Spy photographers snapped a prototype Renault 5 wearing the final body hard at work in a European mountain range, giving us our first opportunity to see how much of the show car’s pizzaz has been lost in the transition to a road car reality. And the answer, thankfully, seems to be not much.
Yes, the car is covered in trippy camouflage wrap so we can’t see some of the finer details, but the overall shape is the same, including the muscular fender flares that Renault could so easily have reserved for its Alpine spinoff, the A290. Even the unusual six-spoke alloy wheels, though painted black here, appear to be the same style as the ones worn by the yellow concept presented in 2021.
Building small EVs that are affordable but still turn a profit is tricky, so we’re not surprised to see that the show car’s camera-based door mirrors have been junked for regular glass ears. And we imagine cost considerations also forced Renault to ditch the concept’s flush front-door handles for more traditional mechanical pull types. The rear handle is recessed though, in the base of the C-pillar, as it is on the Clio, helping to give the impression that the 5 is a two-door car, rather than the four-door design it really is.
Related: The Renault 5 EV Promises To Offer “Best-In-Class” Performance And Handling
Some heavy disguise at the rear of this test car makes it harder to get an idea of how the finished car will look, but given that vertical lights were a key part of the design of the two original generations of Renault 5 and also featured on the concept, they’ll certainly be making an appearance for 2024, along with a connecting light bar.
Under the skin, the new 5 rides on the CMF-B EV platform that will also be used on its Renault 4 crossover brother and Nissan Micra EV. It’s derived from the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s CMF-B combustion supermini platform found in cars like the Clio and Captur rather than being developed from the ground up for EVs, but does have one advantage on those cars, because it has a multi-link rear end instead of a basic torsion beam axle.
Power will come from a single 134 hp (136 PS) electric motor driving the front wheels and the 5 should be good for up to 249 miles (400 km) of range from an available 52 kWh battery pack, though base case will only get 40 kWh. It will land in European showrooms starting next year priced from less than €25,000 ($27k), and will soon find itself battling VW’s ID.2. Which would you buy?
