● We view production version of brand’s eagerly awaited EV hatch● UK to get more powerful models when 5 goes on sale this autumn
John McIlroy John_McIlroy@autovia.co.uk@johnmcilroy
A STELLAR concept car can often be a challenge to turn into a production version, with real pressure to deliver something close to the show vehicle. That’s been precisely the case with the reborn Renault 5, presented here in the MINI and Fiat 500-rivalling form that you’ll be able to buy in the UK this autumn.
The 5 is a baby EV with a choice of battery sizes, seating for five people and a boot capacity that’s the equal of many larger superminis. And having been walked around the vehicle in the studio by Renault design chief Gilles Vidal, we can confirm that the production 5 looks every bit as stunning as its preview concept.
The production version sits on a fresh architecture called AmpR Small – developed by Renault Group’s Ampere EV division, and renamed from its original title, CMF-BEV. The platform has been conceived to support pure-electric vehicles, but to help cut almost a third from the development bill, engineers made heavy use of the front end of the petrol and hybrid-powered Clio and Captur.
With an overall length of just 3.92 metres, the 5 is compact. That makes it longer than conventional city cars such as the Hyundai i10 or Fiat’s 500, but shorter than pretty much any modern supermini. Renault says the 5 is nine centimetres shorter than a Clio overall, but that the wheelbase is only four centimetres shorter. Unusually for such a small vehicle, its standard wheel size is 18 inches, a key way of delivering on the concept’s promised stance.
The biggest visual difference on the production car comes at the front, where Renault’s design team has played around with the headlights. The final execution references Manga comic characters to help give the 5 even more of a facial expression – something that the car builds on by ‘winking’ one of its eye-like headlights towards the keyholder as they approach.
Renault has retained the distinctive air-intake motif on the bonnet – another nod to classic small Renaults of the past, such as the 5 and the original Twingo. The modern reinterpretation isn’t an intake at all, but instead a display that can show charge levels and indicate when the vehicle is
