Renault wants to fully use the advantages of its past to develop electric cars of the future, as the brand’s chief designer Laurens van den Acker said in an interview with the British magazine Autocar.

With new products like the Renault 4 and Renault 5 looming on the horizon, of course, everything is 100% electricsays Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo “reinterpretation of certain icons as irresistible.” Remember that the Italian leader made a small feature of neo-retro, giving life to the Fiat 500 in 2007, when he worked for FCA.

Bringing joy back to design with fond memories

“I think electric cars should be a little anonymous, very smooth, very cool”– said Laurens Van den Acker, referring to the models of competing manufacturers. “I hope that electric cars will become even more attractive in the future, and we are trying to do our best. Renault 5 and Renault 4 will be fully electric cars, they will become icons. At the same time, the Mégane and the upcoming Scénic will also be very modern cars.”

“When I came to Renault in 2009, I was asked: ‘When are you going to build Alpine or Renault 4?’ I replied, “Look, I was hired to design the future, not design the past.”

“But ironically, I think at a time when there’s so much danger in the world, when there’s a lot of dark clouds looming left, right and center, to make cars that really evoke the good times is a very good thing.”

The opposite strategy for Volkswagen

From Volkswagen’s side, it’s not the same story. The strategy of the French brand cannot be different from the strategy of Volkswagen. This was announced by the CEO of the German brand, Thomas Schaefer, in June of last year “Betting on nostalgia to revive certain models of the past would be a mistake”adding that it “would be a dead end”. The leader was referring to the possible resurrection of the Beetle in electricity.

Volkswagen has taken a different route with the ID.2all concept, which will go into production in 2026 and retail from €25,000 in Europe, while Renault seems to be taking a different approach with neo-retro products like the ones mentioned above. models with a more modern design, such as the Mégane or the upcoming Scénic.

However, Renault will unveil its electric R5 in the coming weeks, while Volkswagen and its ID.2 will have to be patient. The Renault 4 is expected to be a small electric SUV, while the ID.2 will also have an SUV variant. Volkswagen could also strike in 2027 with an electric car for less than €20,000.

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