2024 Renault 5 EV teased in revealing camouflage

UPDATE: 2024 Renault 5 electric hatch teased

The long-awaited Renault 5 revival has been teased in production-ready form for the first time, ahead of the Goodwood Festival of Speed on Thursday.

While the retro electric hatch was still wrapped in dark camouflage, it indicates the electric hatch will have straight body lines, a compact length with a wide wheelbase, and retro-sporty styling cues.

Interestingly, the front bonnet has a subtle protruding bump on the left side, the front bumper will feature a splitter, and a subtle full-width lip or light bar at the tailgate connecting the vertical tail-lights with a ‘5’ badge offset on the right.

The latter harks back to the post-1984 second-generation Renault 5 hatch, which had the carmaker’s diamond logo towards the left front grille.

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Other details seen in the teaser include hidden rear door handles, Continental tyres, and a charging port located at the front-left of the car.

While Renault hasn’t detailed when the 5 EV will be unveiled, the teaser lines up with the Goodwood Festival of Speed event running from Thursday, July 13 to Sunday, July 16.

The annual event has become a new go-to for carmakers to tease or reveal new high-performance models in lieu of traditional motor shows, with electric cars such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N and MG Cyberster slated for this year.

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April 3: 2024 Renault 5 initial details revealed

Initial battery and powertrain details have been revealed for the all-electric Renault 5, ahead of a 2024 unveil for the revived retro-inspired hatch.

The 5 will debut Renault-Nissan’s Common Module Family-B EV (CMF-B EV) platform, which will be 30 per cent cheaper to manufacture than the Zoe electric light hatch overseas since it shares 70 per cent of parts from the combustion engine CMF-B platform used on the Clio and Captur city cars.

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The Renault 5 will be the Zoe’s spiritual successor, with a design inspired by its original predecessors and focus on fun driving dynamics.

It will be home to a new battery pack with four large modules to be simpler (instead of 12 small modules like the older Zoe), 15kg lighter than the Zoe and more space efficient, while giving the underbody added rigidity to improve safety and cabin noise isolation.

Additionally, the Renault 5 will feature an electrically-excited synchronous motor that doesn’t use expensive and environmentally-unfriendly rare-earth materials, while delivering higher power outputs than a permanent magnet motor.

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The electric city car will also have a more compact architecture – around 20kg lighter than the Zoe – by combining the DC/DC converter (which converts the battery pack’s 400-volts into 12-volts to power electronics), the onboard battery charger, and accessory box (which manages power distribution) into one unit.

The CMF-B EV platform also enables it to have multi-link rear suspension.

The first nine Renault 5 EV mules disguised as Clio hatches are currently being tested for comfort and handling on European roads, and the company’s private testing facilities, with initial drives indicating it is a “worthy descendant of the Megane E-Tech electric”.

When it does make its debut next year, it will revive the nameplate that dates back to 1972, but only lasted for two generations.

The Renault 5 was famous for its Alpine and Turbo hot hatch iterations, plus its entrance as a front-wheel drive rally car.

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Will the electric Renault 5 come to Australia?

Renault has yet to confirm if it will build the 5 in right-hand-drive, but the company's local distributor has confirmed it's eager to bring the style-focused 5 in as a rival to the Abarth 500e and Mini Electric.

Local boss Glen Sealey told Wheels in February: “If Renault makes [the 5] in right-hand-drive, we’ll put our hand up. It’s then a case of: will Renault make the additional investment to engineer a car to ADRs for Australia?"

The 5 would come with a handy advantage of those two compact EVs when it comes to driving range, as the current Zoe can manage up to 395 kilometres.

For now, Renault Australia will launch the Megane E-Tech EV crossover SUV at the end of this year with a targeted circa-$70,000 starting price to compete with a highly concentrated segment, including the Tesla Model Y, Kia EV6, and Ford Mustang Mach-E.