New Renault 4 revealed as rugged EV reinvention of the cult classic – Move Electric

This is the new Renault 4Ever Trophy , a rugged rally-themed concept car that provides a close preview of the traditional model’s reinvention as a small electric crossover due in 2025.

The new machine will be a key model in the French firm’s rapidly expanding line-up of electrical vehicles, sitting between the forthcoming Renault 5 hatch and the recently launched Renault Megane E-Tech Electric family crossover.

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As with those two models, Renault has taken inspiration from one of its old models for the brand-new ELECTRONIC VEHICLES, reviving the particular nameplate associated with the long-running and much-loved Renault four. The boxy MPV was hugely popular both as a family and commercial automobile, and during a production run that ran through 1961 until 1994 Renault sold more than eight million examples.

The brand new version is an entirely different car, with a very various purpose – but Renault bosses do think that the production version could quickly become the firm’s best-selling EV when it is launched in 2025.

Here’s what you need to know about the new Renault 4Ever Trophy, which has been revealed at the Paris Motor Show.

What exactly is the Renault 4Ever Trophy?

It’s our first hint at what the production version from the Renault 4 EV will look like when it arrives in 2025. As it typical for car firms, they don’t want to give everything away so they’ve wrapped up the particular 4Ever Trophy with some bold concept vehicle styling – in this case some outlandish off-road rally accoutrements – but don’t be fooled: there’s a close-to-production car under here.

Just like the smaller Renault 5 hatch that will be released before this, the Renault 4 uses the firm’s CMF-BEV platform for small electric cars. This is basically the development edition of the system used for the particular hugely well-known Renault Zoe, which will effectively be succeeded by the four and 5.

While the five will firmly be a compact hatch, Renault says that this 4 will be a larger B-segment SUV – the small crossover, basically. Think of the relationship between the combustion-engined Renault Clio and Captur – or in ELECTRONIC VEHICLES terms, something like the Peugeot e-208 and e-2008 .

Renault 4 project manager Laure Gregoire said: “The Renault 5 will be maybe a car for one or even two people, and really designed for urban usage. We want the 4 to be more versatile: the car of a family, and some thing that you can use every week and at the weekend. ”

The concept version associated with 4060mm long, which makes it around 300mm shorter than machines such because the e-2008 and the particular Volkswagen ID 3. It’s 2100mm wide and 1900mm high.

The old Renault 4 wasn’t an SUV… so why is the new one?

Whilst it doesn’t exactly fit into modern vehicle categories, with its boxy body, hatchback rear and host of practical features the original Renault four would be best described as the mini MPV. While the particular 4Ever Trophy concept clearly takes design inspiration from it, it’s also obviously designed to squeeze into the hugely popular small VEHICLE class.

Sandeep Bhambra, Renault’s advanced design director, said that while the revived 4 would be a different type of vehicle, it would maintain the particular ethos of the original. “The original 4 was designed to become versatile, plus you could call it the first all terain, ” he said. “It was a car you could drive in the countryside, you can generate off-road and you can drive within the city. That versatility has been part associated with the brief. We wanted the Renault 4 to be more flexible, while the 5 is usually more of a city vehicle. ”

The family resemblance is clear, with the particular design of the 4Ever Trophy containing numerous nods in order to the initial. The most prominent is definitely the basic front-end silhouette, particularly the particular horizontal ‘grille’ panel that will features the latest version of Renault’s logo and the distinctive round lights. In a modern twist, the particular logo can be illuminated as well as the lights are Matrix LEDs.

The side profile showcases trapezoidal part windows with rounded corners and there are also digital cameras instead of wing mirrors, while the rear from the car features upright rectangular lights. Notably, as along with the initial, the rear section is angled forwards.

Why does the concept look like it is ready with regard to a week inside the desert?

That’s because as well as previewing the future production car, the Renault 4Ever Trophy concept is a celebration of the long-running 4L Trophy, a humanitarian rally in which teams associated with students drive restored Renault 4 devices across Morocco to deliver equipment to schools in the country.

As a result, Renault has given the particular concept the dune buggy vibe, fitting big rough-road tyres on 19in rims, jacking up the ride height, reinforcing the underside of the vehicle and sticking on extra-wide wheel arch cladding. Particularly each wheel features a built-in compressor so that the tyre pressure can be easily changed from within the car.

Oh, plus there’s furthermore a spare tyre mounted on a roof rack, and there’s the shovel plus sand plate fixed on the rear boot lid. Predictably those features are unlikely to reach the production version, mostly because you don’t often have to dig your way out of a sand dune to achieve your local Aldi.

That will said, if you take away those features this concept really does closely preview the manufacturing Renault 4 that’s due to arrive in 2025. Bhambra added: “Everything that will be body colour is close to the production vehicle. But every thing below that is pure concept. ”

What about the interior?

There isn’t 1. No, really: this is properly a show model so the edition we saw didn’t possess an inside to speak of: merely the hint associated with a steering wheel and a glass panel that could end up being used since a digital display. We haven’t seen one for the Renault 5 yet, either, so we can’t say much regarding it. We can confirm it will have one, though.

Okay… so exactly what do all of us know about the technical details?

Renault says the 4Ever Trophy concept has a 100kW (134bhp) motor, which usually draws power from a 42kWh battery mounted under the floor. While nothing has been confirmed, we’d expect that will to offer a range of close to 250 miles.

Renault wouldn’t be drawn on other powertrain options, insisting that was still being evaluated. However , we know that the platform will end up being capable of housing twin-motor powertrains that offer all-wheel-drive, which would seem a likely option given the car’s brief.

Alpine, Renault’s performance arm, is also working on the hot version of the particular Renault five, that will use a twin-motor 160kW powertrain, and provided they share a platform it would be technically possible to develop a similar version of the Renault 4. Nevertheless , it is certainly not part of Alpine’s planned initial ‘three-car dream garage’ line-up, plus would be less associated with a fit with the 4’s ethos.

What else do I need to understand?

The Renault four will be built in the particular firm’s ElectriCity production hub in northern France, alongside the 5 and the Megane E-Tech Electric, and it’s set to go into creation in 2025.

Notably, Renault expects a lot of 4 sales to become through lease and subscription schemes, including those run through the firm’s new Mobilize brand. The machine has been designed with this particular brief in mind, including the particular need to offer connected services as part of a digital ‘ecosystem’, and to make the car affordable – a step that includes the use of a large amount of recycled content.

We’d expect the Renault 4 to cost around £25, 000 when it is released, pitching it just about the five – which company bosses are usually aiming in order to launch with a starting price below £20, 000.