Industry sources say the French car giant will announce the new ‘affordable’ EV on Wednesday this week
Renault will reveal the launch of an additional “affordable” city electric car during this week’s capital markets day for its new EV unit Ampere, three sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
The move is part of French carmaker’s efforts to reassure investors and push ahead with the stock market listing of its EV business, which has been complicated by weak demand for EVs and increased Chinese competition.
The Renault-branded vehicle, which will be smaller than the planned relaunched version of the cult R5 hatchback, and is expected to be built at the Novo Mesto plant in Slovenia.
The Ampere sub-division of Renault has already said it plans to bring six EV models to the market by 2030. The new model expected to be announced this week, is scheduled to go on sale in 2026, one of the sources said.
Ampere targets 600,000 produced electric vehicles in 2026 and one million in 2031.
Last year Renault sold almost 50,000 electric Megane and Kangoo vehicles, and has released details of the electrified Scenic and Renault 5 models for 2024, followed by the iconicreintroduction of the electric Renault 4, in 2025.
Renault can rightly claim to be a pioneer in the electric vehicle market with part-owned Nissan in the early 2010s but in the past six years has fallen behind the likes of Tesla and the Chinese manufactured vehicles which have led the huge shift to electric cars.
Industry observers say Ampere’s separation from the rest of Renault and planned market listing next spring is a major plank of the automaker’s turnaround strategy.
In the UK Auto Express said: “By focusing on EVs only, Ampere hopes to be able to reduce costs in the development and production of EVs, in the face of an onslaught of EVs from Chinese car makers. Renault’s partners in its Alliance – Nissan and Mitsubishi – are expected to be investors in Ampere, too, while it’s anticipated that Ampere will be floated on the stock market next year. The announcement of the small, cheap EV is likely to be made to reassure investors.”
Renault’s investor day will be held on Wednesday.
