Twingo is GO! Cheap $33k Renault Twingo EV is back on with help from a mysterious Chinese player
Just days after Volkswagen said it would go it alone and produce its cheap €20,000 ($A32,500) EV without any help, Renault has announced that it has already found a new Chinese partner to help it create its low-cost Renault Twingo.
Originally, Volkswagen and Renault were in negotiations to team-up to make cheap EVs until the talks were suddenly terminated without any deal.
Renault has not named the Chinese car-maker it is working with yet but, confusingly, says despite the timing it was always going to collaborate with the unnamed brand and that the Volkswagen talks were not related.
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Raising plenty of eyebrows among industry insiders the move to work with a China-based automaker follows a recent announcement by Renault boss, Luca de Meo, that urged all European car-makers to join forces to create an Airbus-style conglomerate to level the playing field to help Europe fight off the raft of cheap Chinese-made EVs flooding the markets it operates in.
That said, according to car industry journal Automotive News, the new deal led by Renault’s Ampere EV division ensures that both the styling and advanced engineering would take place in France, and production for the Twingo would remain in Europe, with the affordable EV primed to be made in the same Slovenian plant as the current-generation Twingo.
Renault also said that by working alongside a China-based company it will learn how to slash is development lead times while significantly sharing the costs of developing its cheapest EV.
“The development of the car will be done with a Chinese partner to improve our development lead time and costs,” said a spokesperson to Automotive News.
When the Renault EV lands, that’s thought to be based on the Twingo EV concept, the French brand has promised it will offer buyers best-in-class efficiency of 10kW/100km, with the next small Renault delivering 75 per cent lower CO2 emissions during its lifetime compared to any EV sold in 2023.
Measuring in at up to 20 per cent less than the average car in Europe, the new EV will also be both easy to manoeuvre and park.
Set to land in 2026, the Twingo EV will compete with the likes of the new Citroen e-C3, the all-electric Fiat Panda and the aforementioned €20k Volkswagen ID.1, plus at least two entry-level EVs that are being readied by Hyundai and Kia.
Before then, Renault will launch the larger R5 hatch later this year, followed by the R4 SUV in 2025.
There’s no word yet on whether Renault will challenge the pricing of the Dacia Spring EV, which has recently been face-lifted and has sold in Europe as cheaply at just €17,300 ($A28,200) before subsidies.
