Distributor yet to share thought on battery bauble.

FIVE is alive, with the production car delivering the chirpy chic styling it delivered as the alluring 2021 concept  - but whether it will find a home in New Zealand has yet to fully explained.

Renault New Zealand has been approached for comment about its intention for the ‘5’ electric car, unveiled overnight at a Geneva show.

The Auckland-based distributor has been watching the electric sales revolution from the side line since dropping the Zoe in early 2022 due to a crash test embarrassment. 

It has previously spoken positively about the ‘5’ but since then has also regressed it’s electric model family intention. 

It also seems to be looking more to commercial vehicles - at present the only passenger models it has are the Arkana, with reduced pricing, and Megane RS. Otherwise the intents are with work-set versions of the Kangoo, Master and Traffic vans.

The big u-turn on electric opportunity announced in December, with a last-minute decision to curtail release of the fully battery-wed Megane E-Tech. 

That medium crossover atop the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance's latest CMF-EV dedicated electric platform.was supposed to launch this month. 

Now there is no firm date for release, with national brand manager Scott Kelsey saying everything depended on where it would price in a post Clean Car rebate market that is set for a huge amount of change.

The Renault 5 E-Tech would conceivably stand chance as introducing as a Zoe replacement, though probably with some premium.

The car has an 11kW AC charger, 80/100kW DC charger, and a choice of 40kWh and 52kWh battery packs with claimed driving ranges of up to 299km and 399km respectively. All that is required, Renault says, because it is foremost designed as an urban use car.

The remit for more ambitious driving was expected to fall on Megane E-Tech, which provisions with 40kWh and 60kWh battery packs, with the bigger of those two claiming a WLTP-tested driving range of 450 kilometres and making 164kW (whereas the smaller creates 97kW and will clock 300kms between charges).

With the ‘5’, three front-drive power options are entering production, these in 70 kW, 90 kW and 110 kW. 

The first two can only be had in combination with the 40 kWh battery, while the most powerful motor only comes with the big pack. A factory-claimed 0-100kmh time of ‘less than eight seconds’ is presumed to attach to the most powerful version.

At 3.92 metres long, 1.77m wide and 1.5m tall, this a larger car than Zoe, but still very compact.  The make’s smallest petrol car ever sold here, the Clio, is larger. The boot has a volume of 326 litres and there's no frunk. The battery sizes contribute to keeping the weight down;  the 52kWh car clocks just 1450 kg at the kerb, making it as light as some comparable internal combustion engine cars.

All versions can be recharged from an AC source at up to 11 kW. In respect to DC fast charging, the car can accept up to 80kW if it’s fitted with the 90kW, while the top variant can accept up to 100 kW. 

Furthermore, the two most powerful versions of the Renault 5 come with vehicle-to-load (V2L) functionality as standard, meaning owners can export power from the high-voltage battery to power things like appliances and tools. The maximum power output is 3.7 kW. Vehicle-to-grid also features in Europe.

All versions take a 10-inch central touchscreen that can run native Android apps like Spotify, Google Maps, Waze, and more. It also has wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity. A second 10-inch screen (7-inch in the case of the entry-level trim) takes the role of a digital instrument cluster.

There’s also a virtual travel companion called Avatar Reno, which intends to interact with the driver and passengers, both inside and outside the car. And because it integrates with the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, it can reply to questions using basically the whole internet as its source of information.

Adaptive cruise control with stop and go and lane centring are also delivered.

The seat design has been inspired by the rally chairs that came in the Renault 5 Turbo, a special hot hatch back in the day. Trim is made from recycled materials.

While the Renault 5 platform is bespoke, it has the same front suspension as the petrol Clio and Captur compact crossover. The rear gets a multi-link setup that’s usually found in larger and more expensive cars, according to Renault.

The car will be built in France.