Renault has posted the first teasers of its upcoming 5 E-Tech hatchback poised to become one of Europe’s cheapest EVs with a starting price close to €25,000. You can check them out for some body and light close-ups, but the funniest feature is a battery charge indicator built into the hood.
It looks like the production car will be an almost exact copy of the 5 E-Tech Concept revealed two years ago (see video). Some details, like the headlight shapes and taillight patterns, look simplified, and there is no light stripe on the tailgate, but the rest is there. The rear fenders retain their original shape, and the rear door handles are nowhere to be seen, so they are probably concealed in the pillars.
As for the hood display, it sits exactly where an air intake was on the classic Renault 5 hatch. The battery charge indicator on it is styled as the number ‘5’.
According to Renault, the first version to reach the showrooms will be bundled with a 52-kWh battery pack for 400 km (248 miles) of range. A low-budget variant will follow it later with a 40-kWh pack.
The official debut will take place at the Geneva International Motor Show on February 26, 2024. The shipments will begin next fall, but pre-orders will open in several days. More specifically, anyone willing to grab a Renault 5 E-Tech 10 days before it goes on sale will be able to do so thanks to a so-called ‘R5 R Pass’. It costs €150 and acts as a partial advance payment.