Autocar confidential: Twingo's electric ambitions, VW's name game and more

Our reporters empty their notebooks to round up a week in gossip from across the automotive industry
15 October 2019

In this week's round-up of automotive gossip, we chat EVs with Renault's planning boss, VW's naming ambitions for its first electric car, Citroen's idea of "unconventional" design and more.

Renault's EV plans go back further than you think

The Renault Twingo was due to be electric from its 2014 launch, it has been revealed. Product planning boss Ali Kassai said: “We originally planned to launch an electric Twingo at the beginning and then we saw that there were no [charging] stations, so we slowed down. And then we had Zoe and we had ambitious plans for that.” An electric Twingo will finally arrive next year.

Numbers are the name of the game at VW

Volkswagen never considered names for its ID models, instead choosing to use numbers. VW sales chief Jürgen Stackmann said: “We wanted to have a brand identity. All cars are ID. The connection is: electric equals ID.” He added that the number three – assigned to the first ID model – gives VW space to go both up and down in the line-up.

Our Verdict

Renault Twingo

Renault Twingo

Will Renault storm the market with its unconventional rear-engined city car, or do more mainstream alternatives do a better job?

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Shape of things to come at Citroen

Citroen has said it is committed to traditional car styles in the future but will approach these in an “unconventional way”. Outgoing planning boss Xavier Peugeot said that, with key SUV models in place, attention will switch to other body shapes. “There are not only SUVs in the world,” said Peugeot. “We have to give an answer [to meet demand for other types of car] and we will. But we will not consider silhouettes in a classical way. Citroën’s DNA is rooted in a bold capacity to shake the rules and move the standards.”

Nurburgring beckons for Battista

Pininfarina could go for the Nio EP9’s electric production car records on the Nürburgring Nordschleife and Goodwood hillclimb with its 1900bhp Battista hypercar. But boss Michael Perschke said: “Is that a necessity for our buyers? Probably not. Pininfarina has never been about racing but well-designed luxurious cars.”

READ MORE

New Renault Zoe: UK prices and specs announced

Volkswagen ID 3: vital EV revealed with up to 341-mile range

Pininfarina Battista: 1900bhp EV hits the road in new images

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Comments
2

coolboy

15 October 2019

How interesting... So Renault figured out that they needed to can the Twingo Electric because there were no charging stations... but there were enough for the Zoe! Interesting. In Paris there were (and are) plenty of them from Blue'Lib at least.

Just talk, with the pricing they have going for the Zoe, they would have to go for peanuts money on the Twingo and that would bring a serious burden for the brand accounts. Now with the increasing fleet requirements in terms of emissions, there's simply no other way, it will always be spending money, one way or another. This way, they could move metal into the retail side...

coolboy

15 October 2019

How interesting... So Renault figured out that they needed to can the Twingo Electric because there were no charging stations... but there were enough for the Zoe! Interesting. In Paris there were (and are) plenty of them from Blue'Lib at least.

Just talk, with the pricing they have going for the Zoe, they would have to go for peanuts money on the Twingo and that would bring a serious burden for the brand accounts. Now with the increasing fleet requirements in terms of emissions, there's simply no other way, it will always be spending money, one way or another. This way, they could move metal into the retail side...

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