Some designs are intentional from the beginning, while others come from intuition and inspiration. The new “retrofuturistic” Renault 5 small electric car is one of the latter. In late 2019, Renault designers working on special projects came up with an idea for a future small electric car. They produced a design study that drew inspiration from the original Renault 5 — but with the automaker still dealing with the fallout from the Carlos Ghosn scandal, their idea stayed in obscurity.
A bright orange colour
Then in early July 2020, former Seat CEO Luca de Meo became head of Renault Group, and one of his first acts was to visit the design center in Guyancourt, outside of Paris. There, he saw the bright orange Renault 5 design study. As de Meo wrote recently: “Suddenly, as I was walking around, I saw a life-size model that looked surprisingly like an R5. For me, it was absolutely clear. I made the decision straight away: ‘That’s it exactly! Try to put this design on a platform with four wheels. It has to be an all-electric car. We’re going to build the Renault 5!’ ”
Amazing instinct
The new Renault 5 was unveiled to the public as a concept just months later, in January 2021, as a cornerstone of de Meo’s “Renaulution“ strategy. Three years later, the Renault 5 has appeared in production form, nearly identical to that orange design study — a true “show car for the street.” “He’s very intuitive,” Gilles Vidal, Renault design director, said of de Meo, who as head of marketing at Fiat in the 2000s championed the retro-design Fiat 500, which has been in continuous production for more than 15 years with few changes. “His first instinct is always right; that’s quite amazing. He knows what works and what doesn’t.”
A popular icon trigging emotions
Vidal and de Meo are adamant that the Renault 5 is not a “retro” design, but it draws on the public’s affection for the original, which sold more than nine million examples from 1972-1996. “It’s not nostalgic, it’s not vintage,” Vidal said. Even if it triggers emotions from such a popular icon, “We wanted it to be futuristic at the same time.” The new Renault 5 mixes and matches inspirations from the original and variants such as the Super 5 and Turbo. Tall vertical taillights, for example, are from the Super 5; the H-shaped bucket seats, muscular stance and rear roof spoiler are from the Turbo, while the general shape of the front fenders and the friendly “eye” headlights, the flat dashboard with visible stitching lines and the sloping hatchback are from the first generation.
An eye-catching object
Vidal describes these as critical details that make the Renault 5 an “eye-catching object” that will surprise and delight owners. But even these elements have been pushed into the future: The hood vent that once let air escape from a gasoline engine has been transformed into a lighted “5” that shows the state of battery charge, with each of five bars representing 20 percent
Evoking the 70s
“The car can express itself on its own,” creating a bond with its driver, Vidal said, describing the overall feel of the Renault 5 as “pop flair.” That impression is strengthened by two bold exterior colors, Pop Yellow and Pop Green that evoke the early 70s model. For the driver, Renault has designed a special graphical user interface based on characters that slant forward at the same 28-degree angle as the bottom of the Renault “lozenge” logo, creating a sense of motion and momentum.
(Full article in A&D no. 266)
