► The latest on Renault’s sub-€20k EV
► New Renault Twingo to slot below 5
► Fourth generation due in 2026
Renault is on track to launch the new, fourth-generation Twingo in 2026 – and it’ll show the car to the public for the first time at the 2024 Paris motor show opening this weekend.
The new Renault Twingo is a fully electric city car that returns to the monobox roots of the 1992 original, rebooted for the electric age. CAR has been given early access to the sub-€20,000 (£17k) EV and has met its designers to get the full lowdown.
This is a compact five-door city car stretching to just 3.75m long and 1.75m wide, making it perfect to dash around London or Paris. Yet clever packaging with a wheel-in-each-corner stance and 2.5m wheelbase promises space for five.
‘We really tried to recreate the monobox shape of the first-generation Renault Twingo,’ Sandeep Bhambra, Renault’s chief designer in the advanced design department, told CAR magazine. ‘It simply wasn’t possible with the combustion engine models with pedestrian safety and suchlike – they always ended up being a two-box shape. We’re taking Twingo back to its roots!’
A new Renault Twingo, you say? Where do I sign up?
Not so fast… Turns out the new Twingo has not yet been approved for right-hand drive production – meaning that Brits are at risk of not being able to buy the cheeky Mk4 you see in these newly released photos. That’s tantalising, because now that we have seen it in the metal we have to say it looks sensational.
Renault Group CEO Luca De Meo had already confirmed the return of the Twingo at the first Ampere Capital Markets Day in winter 2023. The new small electric city car is destined to become the third icon to be electrified by the group, slotting beneath the Renault 5 and upcoming Renault 4.
The company promises some serious specs for the new baby city car, which the boss says will ‘go from concept to production in around two years.’ The new European-built Twingo, according to De Meo, is ‘a fit-for-purpose urban vehicle with no compromise,’ promising efficiency figures of around 10kWh/100km [6 miles per kWh] with CO2 emissions around 75% lower ‘than the average European ICE car sold in 2023 over its lifecycle.’
‘We’ve done it with the Dacia Spring, now it’s time for Renault,’ added De Meo during the press conference.
Renault Twingo Mk4: here in 2026
What you see here is the concept car, but De Meo pledged a record-breaking development time by partnering with a Chinese component supplier: ‘We will develop the Twingo in the record time of two years from concept to start of production – matching the speed of the Chinese OEMs [manufacturers],’ he told investors.
The production version of the new Twingo is due in 2026, although Brits may yet be denied the chance to buy one. The cost of engineering it to right-hand drive is put at around £1 million and the slender margins of city cars means the business case is not yet decided.
Renault has form for blocking RHD exports of cars that do not warrant conversion, remember. Today it sells 17 different model ranges in France, compared to the 11 listed on the UK website. Sentimentality counts for nought in business…
Ampere: pushing ahead with retrofest EVs galore
Renault’s Ampere sub-division is developing the group’s electrification and technology strategy, including the iconic nameplates being spun off including the Renault Twingo, 4 and 5 – cars designed to appeal to EV sceptics, according to design chief Gilles Vidal. ‘They resonate with buyers who remember the old cars, yet they are indisputably fresh and modern.’
Ampere is also taking the lead on producing the new electric Nissan Micra (which is heavily based off the 5 EV) and producing another car for Mitsubishi.
To do that, Renault’s CMF-BEV and CMF-EV platforms are being renamed to AMP-R Small and AMP-R Medium in order to compete more directly with Stellantis and VW Group electric cars.
There is also more of a focus on software than ever before, with Renault Group developing its own software architecture using Google and Qualcomm technologies. The brand is introducing an AI-augmented assistant called Reno, harnessing the power of digital partners and machine learning to give occupants a personal assistant on board.
New 2026 Renault Twingo: the design story
Bhambra, whose design sketch was picked for the final concept car, told CAR the Twingo show car you see here is ‘90% the finished product.’
‘The proportions and design language are totally inspired by the original,’ he said. ‘We used to call the Mk1 the Voiture à vivre – meaning “a living space” and we’ve used the same philosophy here.
‘We’ve pared everything back: it’s a very minimalist designs, with just a few strong graphics, like the door handles, the simple lights and the air scoops on the bonnet – which are functional, by the way; they feed the air-con and cabin air.’
Even the Twingo script on the boot is a neat detail. One of Bhambra’s team designed an entire Twingo typeface, with each letter taking on a character: the T is a positive symbol reflecting the battery at its heart, the N is a bridge and the G becomes a geolocator on the nav. A neat touch.
The concept car runs on 18-inch alloy wheels and has a digital badge, which cycles through animated versions of the Renault logo. Forget that for production, but the glass roof will survive. This is a styling model with no visible interior yet.
Are you waiting for a chic small electric car like this? Be sure to sound off in the comments below.