New Renault Twingo EV to be “90 per cent” true to the concept car

• New fully-electric city car
• Expected to cost from £17,000
• To retain look of the concept car

The new Renault Twingo EV is edging closer to production, and some recent clues suggest that it won’t look too different from the concept car we saw last year.

That car wore styling inspired by the original Twingo from 1992, with its distinctive sloping front end and round headlights. The wheels were pushed right out to the furthest corners of the body, helping to maximise interior space without increasing the overall footprint. As a result, the Twingo concept looked to be pretty small, despite having five doors.

But that’s just the concept car. Making the leap from motor show stage to showroom floor often involves simplifying some of the more unusual design features, especially when the production car has an ambitious price tag to hit. For the Twingo, that’s expected to be in the region of just £17,000, which would make it one of the most affordable electric cars on sale.

However, a chat with Sandeep Bhambra, Renault’s head of concept car design, suggested that the new Twingo could make it to production without losing much of its charm. He said that the aim for the new Twingo is to make it as “timeless as possible”, and that will be achieved by making it as “minimalist as possible”.

What will the new Renault Twingo look like?

Key to the minimalist design is what Bhambra calls the Twigo’s “mono-volume” shape. Essentially, there are no separate ‘chunks’ to the design of the car, unlike a traditional hatchback with a defined bonnet for the engine and a separate passenger compartment. Renault has been able to achieve this by using the EV-only AmpR platform, which is shared with the new Renault 4 and 5.

He explained further: “All the key components are in the floor, between the wheels; it’s a long wheelbase – around 2.5 metres. At the front we have electronics, but all of it is very low. With this we can still meet crash and pedestrian impact [regulations], but with a mono-volume shape.”

Our exclusive images give us an idea of what the production-ready Twingo could look like. It will retain the distinctive shape of the concept car and a few of its unique features, although we expect a few compromises in order to hit the sub-£20k starting price.

The concept car’s animated logo is expected to be one of the first details to be axed. Bhambra explained, “The Twingo is going to be sold for 20,000 Euros. That is quite low for an EV, so probably that logo will not make it in production”. It’s also unlikely that the concept car’s round door handles will see the light of day, with Bhambra explaining that “there is a possibility of pinching yourself when opening the door” with the current design.

Interesting lights are often one of the first things to be changed when a car transitions from concept to reality, and we expect the same to be true here. The concept car’s semicircular LED headlights and tail-lights will probably be swapped for a more conventional set of halogen lights in order to keep costs down. They should keep the same round shape, though, harking back to the original model from the ‘90s.

The Twingo’s distinctive trio of bonnet vents, inspired by the original car, will make it to production, too, and will be used to feed the air conditioning system.

Do we know anything else about the new Twingo?

Besides the exterior design, we know the Twingo will share much of its EV tech with the Renault 4 and 5. It’s likely to receive the smaller of the two battery packs available in those EVs, meaning a 40kWh unit and a range of somewhere around the 200-mile mark. Previously, Renault said it was aiming for an efficiency figure of up to 6 miles per kWh, which would be among the best of any electric car on sale.

In terms of pricing, the Twingo is still on track to be sold in Europe for €20,000, which would translate to just under £17,000 over here. While that would place it in direct competition with the Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03, Renault is yet to confirm whether the Twingo will be sold in the UK. A decision is expected to be made in the coming year, before it reaches showrooms in Europe in 2026.

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