Reborn Renault 5 design secrets revealed

Renault has released a new video that reveals how its design team reinvented the famous Renault 5 nameplate as a pure-electric city hatch that will move from prototype to full production in 2025.

Unveiled last month, the reborn Renault 5 is one of seven battery-powered models to be launched by the French car-maker over the next five years, taking on EVs such as the MINI Electric and Honda e.

And if exterior designer Nicolas Jardin gets his way, the production version of the reinvented R5 – which is expected to be sold in Australia under new independent distributor RVDA – will look every bit as futuristic as it does in prototype form.

Jardin does admit, however, that the design team was guided by the past to create a Renault 5 fit for the modern era.

“It was a work of reinterpretation of the R5 and its projection into the future, to make it a modern object,” he said.

With the redesign of the Renault 5’s headlights, for example, the final version is described as “very worked, very chiselled, evokes laughing, slightly wrinkled eyes”, while the daytime running lights are mounted into the bumper, where the original R5’s fog lights would’ve been.

Those headlights are fitted with LED Matrix technology that can be programmed with animations that “bring them to life”, according to Jardin.

Meanwhile, the front logo lights up with an animation that extends into the front grille and makes them ‘blink’ – just as 1970s R5 conveyed.

“Thanks to the Matrix technology and animations in the welcome sequence, we were able to recreate the expressiveness and mischievousness of the original car’s look,” said Jardin.

Other cool features include an ‘air intake’ on the bonnet that hides the EV’s charging port, and rear door handles incorporated into the C-pillar.

Few details have been confirmed about the forthcoming production model, but as it’s likely to share much with the next-generation Renault ZOE, the top-spec variant should offer a driving range upwards of 400km.