Renault is teaming up with the enemy to bring you an affordable EV

The invasion of Chinese brands has caused an unprecedented reaction among European car brands. Development time is greatly reduced. Renault expects the electric Twingo to go into production as early as 2026. That’s just three years after the first drawings were presented.

Renault Twingo and affordable Volkswagen on the same platform

The fear of Chinese products also leads to exciting cooperation. Renault is based on AME in conversation with Volkswagen about sharing the Twingo platform. Volkswagen could use that for its affordable electric car, the ID.1. If the negotiations do not take place, this will have no influence on the arrival of the Twingo.

That cooperation is important to keep prices low. Renault wants to offer a Twingo for less than 20,000 euros and Volkswagen also indicated in 2023 that it wants to launch an electric car of a comparable base price.

The French also promise that the Twingo will not cost more than 100 euros per month to use. Renault claims an electric consumption of 10.0 kWh/100 km. For small EVs, 15 kWh is currently still the norm.

Renault Twingo is ready in 2026

By European standards, it’s unprecedented how quickly Renault wants the Twingo in the showroom. A development time of five years was common for European brands until now, but for electric ones Renault Megane (Automatic Inspection Car of the Year in 2022) had already been reduced to four years. The Renault 5, which will arrive in showrooms later this year, was three years in the making. For Chinese car brands, 2.5 years is normal.

Good collaboration is not the only way to reduce costs and speed up development time. Few parts are another option. Renault aims to cut 20 percent for the Twingo. Renault will use more existing components and make better use of suppliers’ offerings.

The Twingo will probably be built at Renault’s Slovenian factory where the R4 was originally built and the current Twingo is still rolling off the production line.