Maxi-sized wheel arches, wing and 80s iconic look: the French house dedicates a showcar to the most powerful R5 ever, paving the way for a zero-emission, high-performance Alpine version
Gianluigi Giannetti
The important appointment is already set for 2024, with the debut of the new generation of Renault 5, the one that marks the definitive step for the French company towards the electric future wanted by Luca de Meo, with the idea of relaunching the cars more fascinating than its past. Glorious in the case of the R5, with over 5.5 million units sold in the 14 years following its 1972 debut. Half a century later, Renault celebrates what was the premise of what it imagines will happen, a destiny that for the model it is that of mass motorization, but also the birth of exciting versions. This is the meaning of the showcar that will be presented in world premiere at the Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille competition on 24 and 25 September, to be exhibited alongside starting from 17 October at the 2022 Paris Motor Show. A 100% electric reinterpretation. which is inspired not by any Renault 5, but by the rarest and most powerful one in history.
The power of the classic
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The chronicles tell that already in 1974 the Renault 5 was used in the race, but what the simplest city car needed was to gain power, aim high with a much more complex variant on the mechanical level. The Renault 5 Turbo that was born for this purpose was produced in only 1,700 units between 1980 and 1986, so much so that it is still today one of the most sought after and surprising cars. The merit also lies in the transformation it hid, with the engine no longer at the front, but moved to the central and longitudinal rear position. The 1,397 cc in-line 4-cylinder delivered 160 Hp of rear-wheel drive power, with modifications to the chassis so profound as to give birth to the myth of a car already made with ultralight materials and the characteristic wheel arches in maxi size: it reached 200 km / h with a sprint from 0 to 100 km / h in 6.9 seconds.
Electric breakthrough
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The challenge that the new Renault 5 must accept, expected in 2024 and based on the modular platform Cmf-B EV, is to convince motorists with French taste to a return to the future. The showcar that we will see at the Paris Motor Show 2022 next to the one that marks the equally significant return of the Renault 4, is inspired by the R5 Turbo and thus takes up the proportions of the original, starting with the enlargement so conspicuous compared to the 5 of normal production, all seasoned with a maxi-sized wing reminiscent of the use of the progenitor in the race. On the other hand, the new horizontal design of the front headlights is futuristic, hinting at the modernity of the electric motorization, of which, however, nothing has yet been communicated. It is possible to use a powertrain with a 52kWh battery that somehow anticipates the mechanical solution of the new Renault 5 of 2024. Far more suggestive, perhaps even probable according to the British newspaper Autocar, instead imagine that the car adopts the engine seen on the concept car Alpine E-Ternité, that is a 60kWh capacity accumulator to support a 242 Hp engine, even combined with a double clutch gearbox. After all, the combination between the 5 and the Alpine sports brand was a successful experience in the past, for which Luca de Meo himself foresees a “very probable” future.