Stop Everything, The Renault Twingo Is Coming Back As A Cheap EV

Renault Twingo Ev
ADVERTISEMENT

How’s this for a daily dose of cuteness? The internet’s favorite French economy car, the Renault Twingo, is once again coming back from the dead and this time it should pay heavy tribute to the original. Renault claims the next Twingo will be all-electric, start at less than €20,000, and go on sale in 2026. Even with a nearly three-year timeline, the automaker has already released a concept version and it’s absolutely adorable.

Sure, in profile, this city car may look more like a second-generation Twingo than anything, but details of the original abound. That smiley face, the three hood vents, its translucent-era Parisian chic.

Look, we all complain that cars are getting too big, but how okay are you with dying in a small overlap crash anyway? Besides, the Twingo concept has good reason to offer a decent footprint: It could be one of Europe’s cheapest electric cars.

Renault Twingo 2x

 

That targeted sub-€20,000 price tag I mentioned in the intro? It’s notable for several reasons. Firstly, that’s the plan before incentives. If government gravy trains keep it up, the next Twingo could be a properly cheap car. Oh, and in Europe, value-added tax is included in new car pricing. With the Euro roughly nine cents ahead of the dollar at the time of writing, the next Twingo could be the blueprint for EV domination. After all, automakers can hype up pricey electric crossovers all they want, but they won’t see exponential sales growth if people can’t afford them.

Dacia Spring

Believe it or not, Renault already has experience building a popular, affordable electric car. See, Renault owns Dacia, and Dacia sells something called the Spring. It has a top speed of yes, a zero-to-60 mph time of eventually, and most importantly, a dirt cheap MSRP. We’re talking about €20,800 for an electric car with 140 miles of WLTP range, good enough for runabout use. If the next Twingo is cheaper and better, that would be one hell of an achievement.

Renault Twingo 3

 

The, um, third rebirth of the Renault Twingo is both exciting and mildly shocking. Is this what it takes for millennials to understand how baby boomers felt when the New Beetle was unveiled? Regardless, we’ll never say no to yet another adorable European hatchback, and will be watching closely in 2026 to see if Renault sticks to its pricing estimates. Anyone want to place a bet?

(Photo credits: Renault, Dacia)

Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.

Relatedbar

Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage.

About the Author

View All My Posts

65 thoughts on “Stop Everything, The Renault Twingo Is Coming Back As A Cheap EV”

  1. I think in the US with it’s past experiences with Renault overall, this might be a hard sell with this name on it. I know the Maverick has raised it’s prices, but if the price delta stays close here, a 40MPG trucklet, with decent room for 4 and a small bed is likely to still be more adored for 20k ish

  4. The semantic nerd in me have a hard time with the door handle design (maybe I should seek treatment for this…) While this concept, as the original Twingo, use a similar overarching circular motif for the door handles, the original Twingo door handles are designed in a very understandable and semantic fashion. One half of the circle is the indent where you access the actual door handle, while the other half is slightly domed so to create the impression of space and communicate where you put your hand. On the concept they have highlighted the circular element by putting an illuminated(?) ring around it, and applying a separate color/material in the circle. By doing so the communication of function becomes more confused. Is this door handles for both front and rear door? (would be really nice with suicide rear doors), or is the whole circle the door handle?
    Like the whole car, this detail feels unnecessary over-designed, like the designers tried to cram in as many heritage elements as possible on this small car.

  5. Awesome. This sort of small citycar is the optimum usecase for EV (and I’ve got Enyaq and not too happy about it). It’s also weird that none of the european big players have hit this market spot since VW sold out the eUP! and it’s derivates.

  6. The Twingo Mk1 wasn’t about looking cool, sporty and muscular and Chrysler 300C’y with small windows, high hips and big wheels, it really was quite the opposite, sort of an anti-car so to speak. Roomy, happy, flexible, relaxed: That was the Twingo.

    But I get it that you’ll want a car to look cool, if you design a car nowadays, like we’ve seen in Adrian’s drawing lessons. So it has some round “fun” eye markings, but really none of that original Twingo soul. Back to the drawing board!

    Not that I am a Twingo expert, but I did own one and love it

  9. I don’t love it… it looks more like a bad resto-mod than anything. It’s not just “inspired” by the original, it just is the original.

    You can do retro without churning out a photocopy. Renault did it themselves with the electric 5 concept.

    And I love the original – so many family members had it at the time. It was just so French. This is lazy.

  10. It’ll take Renault longer than three years to convince markets outside Europe that a car this size is actually something you might want to own. More likely…and sensibly…it won’t even try. Which is a poor reflection on the rest of us…

    1. actually the rest of the world outside of the USA, middle east and Australia tend to do small cars pretty well. What do you think they drive in India, South East Asia and cities around the world? it’s not F100s

      2. Oi Australian here. We do small cars fine. One of the bests selling cars here is the KIA Picanto? Why? It’s cheap and available. Build it and they will come. We were hoovering up all the hot Clios Renault could send us as well. Did we build them? No, because we are a RHD country and are limited therefore on who we could sell to not just because of tiny margins.

        1. This is true. I read the post in the wrong tone. I’m in Australia and get more excited about an abarth than I do a RAM we do however have a lot of large cars still.

  12. I have fond memories of putting over 3k Miles on a Mk 1, in quintessential desaturated mint green, driving all round Portugal and Spain with a mate many moons ago. It had a cloud pattern on the seats, and the rears were adjustable on tracks and even reclined! Managed to literally pick up two attractive young German lady hitchhikers, one of whom ended up being my long distance GF. That little car was brimming with character, even with the base 1.2L engine.

    1. What is a long distance girlfriend? Is that like a penpal? And character is that like a blind date who has a great personality? What is a 1.2L motor, is that like the smallest condom? Just asking?

        1. You had me at try having a girlfriend. Before switching to imaginary girlfriends I have had girlfriends who lived close and far. Not sure if the weekly dates with regular presents for carnal delights was cheaper than long distance phone calls, I am old enough to remember long distance, and travel costs for occasional carnal delights which cost more? Do you count overall costs or kp$?

          1. Before I married my American wife, I had to get one of those long distance calling cards. No messenger or internet calls in those days. I used to know the British Airways flight numbers and schedule from Heathrow to North Carolina like the back of my hand.

      2. A long distance girlfriend is like a regular girlfriend except much more expensive and with much fewer benefits. It sounds cool to brag that you have one in some far off place though, at least in my mind and in my group of easily impressed friends.

        Character is what actually makes cars worth owning and people worth knowing, although it’s often used as an excuse for being intolerable, in both cases.

        Also, the Twingo was fueled by controlled explosions, so it had an engine, not a motor. Ahem…

  13. Shut up and take my money! I absolutely adored the 1st gen Twingo.

    The actual execution remains to be seen, but if it’s a practical and affordable car and it came to the US I would want it so hard.

  15. Is it pronounced TWIN-GO or TWING-O? And I take it this is another Euro-only model, so not legal in the US until 2051. We’ll all have flying cars by then, surely.

  16. the e-Kwid is already barebones utilitarian, it would be perfectly fine if they could just push range a little more, curious but realistically it might be just a “cheaper” EV for EU standards, which means still expensive

      1. Looking at UK prices…

        A Toyota Aygo X starts at £16,100, which is roughly the same size classA Renault Clio starts at £17,795, which is a size class aboveA Vauxhall Corsa starts at £19,275, which is a size class aboveThe whole Dacia lineup starts under £20,000. The Sandero is £13,795A Peugeot 208 starts at £20,400, which is a size class aboveA Volkswagen Polo starts at £20,730, which is the same size classA Toyota Yaris Hybrid starts at £22,125, which is a size class aboveA Honda Jazz starts at £26,395, which is a size class above
        So while £20,000 might be ambitious for a new BEV before any subsidies, it’s still generally out-priced by a few thousand pounds, and you could purchase a (base trim, stripped) vehicle in a larger size class for the same money.

        Note when I say larger size class, I’m mostly meaning Golf-sized.

        BEVs are still pricier because the production volumes for batteries, motors, etc. are currently nowhere near that of ICE and typical hybrid vehicles (be a bit still), so the cost scaling can’t match and the price reflects that. I think £20,000 is a pretty good step towards where folks want things to be, and I would assume incentives could make it competitive, but given the UK’s past decade or so, I can also see the price being off-putting.

        1. Looks like the Editor constantly eats bullets, so apologies for the formatting. It had bullets when I entered it originally, not sure why it won’t render them now!

  17. The kept the smiles, which means the designers fully understood the assignment and nailed it. Plus it is a small, “reasonably” priced car.

    Meanwhile, the new Forester, Escape and Equinox all look so similar that I find myself double checking the badging to make sure I have the right one.

  18. I literally screamed with joy when I saw this headline.
    Too bad we’ll never see it in the US. That just might be the deciding factor in my decision about whether or not to relocate to Europe, though…

    1. Moreover, what if they just continue what they’ve done with the Renault Zoe/Nissan Leaf and it’s another cut rate battery with no proper conditioning or thermal management? That’d be one way to reach that price target.

      I agree, concept cars of super minis are always pipe dreams.

        1. Easy, heat can be just as problematic as cold temps. The issues folks have with Leafs are not isolated to people in North Dakota. Plenty of California, Texas, and Florida Leafs have the same issues. At least there’s been growing aftermarket and scrapyard support for dealing with things at a reasonable price, but it’s well known that the Leaf and Zoe tend to trash their batteries.

Leave a Reply