In a press releaseRenault has posted two teaser photos of an all-new Renault 4 electric car debuting at the Paris Motor Show on October 17. The photos intentionally lack detail – that’s why they’re called teasers. But they clearly suggest a small SUV-type vehicle with excellent ground clearance and the ability to take intrepid travelers wherever roads, trails or cart tracks are available. They show a car with a hunky-chunky vibe until the new Ford Bronco, the iconic Jeep Wrangler and multiple offerings from other manufacturers looking to capitalize on the rugged off-road movement “let’s go to sleep under the stars on the roof of our car”.
Image Courtesy of Renault
The Renault 4 will be one of the Renault Group’s 10 all-electric models to hit the market by 2025. These include the compact Megane E-Tech launched earlier this year, the Renault 5 A compact SUV, expected to be called Scenic, will arrive in early 2024, a mid-sized SUV and two models for the Alpine sports car brand: a small “hot hatch” and a larger SUV.
The Renault 4, Renault 5 and the small Alpine car will be built on a new platform called CMR-BEV, derived from the existing Renault/Nissan CMF-B platform. According to Car News Europe, the architecture has a new center section to accommodate a depleted battery pack, but 50% of the components are inherited from the CMF-B platform. Renault and Nissan will share the CMF-BEV platform for small cars and the CMF-EV platform for compact and medium cars. By 2030, every new Renault model launched for Europe must be fully electric, says Renault CEO Luca de Meo.
Image Courtesy of Renault
The original Renault 4 was a very user-friendly 5-door car that sold nearly 8 million units during its 30-year lifespan. It was an updated version of the Deux Chevaux – the cheap, underpowered and hugely capable car that helped France get back on the road in the post-war era.
The 4 had the idiosyncratic styling so characteristic of French cars (see our recent article on the lemon wash), but like the Deux Chevaux, it was exactly what the market needed right now: affordable, practical basic transportation. It even made a cameo appearance in the movie Romancing The Stone. You can see some hints of the original 4L in the headlights and in the trapezoidal side window in those teaser photos.
It’s not uncommon for auto companies to hark back to model names that they hope will catch on with loyal customers. Ford has the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning, GM has the new Equinox, Blazer, Silverado EV and Hummer EV. Renault certainly hopes to tap into the reservoir of good feeling left over from the original 4L and 5 (known in the US as Le Car) as it transitions into the electric car era. If the new cars are as popular as the originals, there’s plenty to laugh about in the Renault C Suite.
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