Renault 5 to stay fresh with latest EV tech but design won't change

Renault will preserve the new 5 supermini’s retro design for as long as possible but keep the car competitive throughout its life cycle with upgrades to its drivetrain and technology. 

Company CEO Fabrice Cambolive outlined his plans for the Renault 5 on the sidelines of the 2025 What Car? Awards, where the supermini was named Car of the Year - just days after also being named the European Car of the Year. 

He attributed the 5’s early acclaim to its striking, 1970s-inspired design, technological capability and distinctive handling characteristics – “when you win like that, it’s because you are different” – and said Renault will bolster these attributes to ensure it stays fresh but will not drastically change its design at any point. 

“The good point of R5 is that we would like to stay with this design as long as we can,” Cambolive said. 

Renault will not look to change the "details" of the 5, but rather update "very, very precise elements" throughout the car's life cycle, Cambolive suggested. "It's opening a lot of creativity for [head designer] Gilles Vidal and his team to keep the same car, but different. That's the idea for R5."

From a technical standpoint, the Renault 5 lines up neatly – in terms of range, power and charge speed – with its current Vauxhall Corsa Electric, Peugeot e-208 and Mini Cooper E rivals – and Cambolive suggested the firm is committed to ensuring it remains so as those cars are upgraded and renewed, and as the electric supermini market expands.

"We have to invest in the way we do our battery management, for sure. We'll invest in terms of connectivity, and we could invest also in the versatility and modularity of the car,” he said.

According to traditional timelines, the 5 should be up for a facelift in around 2028, at about the same time as Renault introduces a new generation of electric cars with vastly improved efficiency, rapid charging and much cheaper batteries, as previewed by the Embleme concept.

While these cars will be based on a new platform, separate from the 5's CMF-BEV structure, it's likely that the supermini will be able to take advantage of the promised technological developments - chiefly a new battery chemistry that's claimed to cut costs by up to 50% and support sub-15min charge times in its most advanced form.

Before that, in 2026, Renault will swap its mainstream EV batteries – including that in the 5 – from NMC to LFP, which it says will reduce costs by 20% while having no impact on range. It’s not yet clear whether that will translate directly to an identical reduction in list price, but if it does, the 5 could drop below £20,000 in the UK.