PARIS MOTOR SHOW: Reborn Renault Fuego ‘could be amazing’

Renault design boss Gilles Vidal has revealed there could be a third all-electric model created in the spirit of the retro R5 and R4 – and that he’d love to see it based on the classic Renault Fuego coupe.

When asked if he wanted to create a third EV to join the incoming Renault 5 hatch and Renault 4 SUV previewed in Paris this week, Vidal admitted he was considering an all-electric reboot based on the quirky coupe made in Europe from 1980-1987 and was so successful it was still being produced in Argentina up until 1993.

“If I had to find a car from Renault history, weirdly enough, the Fuego is the one,” Vidal told carsales.

“It’s awesome. If you take what’s cool about it and put this into something with modern proportions and the form language of the future, you might end up with something amazing, although I can’t guarantee it today.”

Instead of a two-door coupe, Renault might be planning to reinvent the Fuego (which means Spanish for ‘fire’) as a high-performance battery-electric four-door sedan that would serve as a halo model and feature the Renault Group’s latest all-electric tech.

Likely to be based on the car-maker’s CMF-EV architecture, the modern-day Fuego would likely feature a dual-motor powertrain capable of more than 320kW – twice that of the standard front-drive Renault Megane E-Tech Electric.

As far as chassis tech goes, advanced software that mirrors the Nissan e-4ORCE all-wheel drive system could see the fast Renault coupe shuffle its torque front-to-rear and across axles far quicker and more accurately than mechanical hardware, maximising traction and stability.

Cautioning that reinterpreting the Fuego for the present day would be a “massive challenge”, Vidal said a sports car inspired by the original Fuego could hold great appeal.

“It takes a lot of imagination, I know, the problem with the Fuego is it has tiny wheels and they are in-board, like hell. The stance is not so incredible,” he said.

“But it is quite unique and it had a lot of innovative design tricks. With a full-electric powertrain it could be amazing.”

Describing the R5 and R4 design language as “retro futuristic”, Vidal said the beauty of its latest small hatch and SUV is that you “grab bits of history” that will resonate with some people but still appeal to others who don’t know (or care) about its history.

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