Renault is fast discovering its electric mojo with yet another neat-looking EV
Cars are getting bigger, but could that be about to change with raft of nifty new, small, electric cars hitting our roads? The Renault 5, Nissan Micra, Hyundai Inster and Citroen e-C3 spring to mind. And next year, you’ll be able to add this fabulous looking Renault Twingo to the list. It’s not that we’ve fallen out of love with small cars, says Renault. “Motorists are still looking for compact, affordable vehicles, designed for urban living for use as a second car,” it says.
More importantly, with ever improving battery technologies, car makers now think they can make money selling these smaller cars again. And the small city car market should be prime territory for electrification. Journeys are shorter and at lower speeds, which suits smaller range cars. These cars are also more fun to drive round town than conventional petrol-powered ones. They’re also more compact, which makes manoeuvring in our increasingly crowded cities a doddle.
This new Twingo, like the Renault 4 and 5, is a retro reboot of a classic Renault of yesteryear. And, just like those two, they’ve done a rather good job with this new Twingo. It evokes memories of that cutesy little original, proving that the French still know a thing or two about making attractive, small cars. Even better, the new Twingo will cost less than £20,000 when it goes on sale here next year. The new Twingo’s interior is just as funky as the exterior. You get bodycoloured inserts on the doors, a nod to the first Twingo with all of its exposed interior metalwork, and the dashboard is paint matched on top-spec cars as well. All cars come with a 7.0-inch digital driver’s display, which has its own playful graphics, as well as a 10-inch infotainment screen.
It’s running very similar software to the one you get in other Renault models, such as the 5, meaning it’s pretty easy to use, and top-spec cars get Google’s voice assistant built in. You get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard. There’s just one motor and battery combination. You get an 82hp electric motor powering the front wheels, meaning it can do 0-62mph in 12.1 seconds. The 28kWh battery is small but so’s the car, which means the claimed range is a respectable 163 miles. Having driven a few small EVs recently, I can confirm that’s more than enough for mainly city driving where a single charge will suffice for a week or more.
An overnight charge from a home wall box will take around four hours. But if you planning on using public chargers, you’ll need to pay extra for a charging pack that includes a 50kW DC fast charger which can take you from 10-80% in 30 minutes. Final pricing and UK specs will be revealed closer to the on-sale date, which will be at the end of 2026. Renault already looks like it has another winner on its hands.