As an average car manufacturer, if you tell your accountant that you are going to build a new B-segment hatchback, he will probably get a cold sweat on his forehead. For example, Ford already deleted its Fiesta and Kia’s Rio for not being profitable enough, while mainly SUV derivatives are taking over. However, Renault is swimming against the current and continues to develop its new compact hatchback. The secret: their R5 will be completely retro in addition to being purely electric.
Cheaper to produce
For example, we have known for some time that the new Renault 5 will return to the design of its predecessor of the same name to conquer hearts, but it was less known what would be hidden under that facade. The French are now releasing some initial details about this, and they sound quite promising. The R5 thus becomes the first car on the CMF-B EV platform, of which Renault now reveals that it shares 70% of its components with the regular CMF-B platform of, say, the Clio and the Captur. That should make the newcomer up to 30% cheaper to produce than the outgoing Zoe.
The Renault 5 also gets a thoroughly revised battery pack compared to the Zoe, with the cells no longer being processed in 12 modules but in four flat units. This not only benefits the structural rigidity of the platform, but also makes the package 15 kilograms lighter, while according to Renault the density would increase. In addition, the electric motor is derived from that of the Mégane E-Tech Electric, which makes it a synchronous motor with a coil rotor for those in the know. That doesn’t tell us much either, but we especially remember that the power source is more compact and less heavy than that of the Zoe.
Reference in terms of driving pleasure
The French are still silent in all languages about precise figures, but we are going to take a look at that other upcoming model based on the CMF-B EV platform: the Renault 4. It would eventually relate to the R5 as the Captur to the Clio, and showed off in concept form with 136 hp and a battery of 42 kWh. We therefore expect comparable figures for the Renault 5 and the electric Nissan Micra of the future, because they will also be on the same basis.
However, there must be a way to get more power from the entire setup, because Alpine is also planning its own variant of the Renault 5. It will probably not stop at 136 horsepower, although Renault promises that the R5 will also be available in its standard form becomes “the reference in terms of driving pleasure”. And we would also believe them, because the compact hatchback gets a multilink rear axle. This is more common with larger or more expensive models, but is a rarity in the B segment. We will learn the effect of this next year, when the new Renault 5 is unveiled.
