With its batteries in the floor, the electric vehicle always has a high stance that designers try to minimize by using SUV accessories. Despite its attractive features, the Renault 5 E-Tech 100 electric does not escape this rule. We imagined it in a gasoline version without these drawbacks.
Unlike the Peugeot 208, which was designed to be both thermal (gasoline and hybrid) and 100% electric (Peugeot E-208), the Renault 5 E-Tech electric is based on a dedicated platform that gives it unique proportions. Housed in the floor, the battery is responsible for the high-legged appearance that has forced its designers to add SUV features (black lower body and applied wheel arches) to visually rebalance its stature. In reality, the Renault 5 E-Tech stands at 1.50 m, which is almost comparable to that of an urban SUV like the Peugeot 2008 (1.53 m), and even higher than a Peugeot 408 (1.48 m). Comparatively, the Peugeot 208 and E-208 are at 1.43 m. This is also accentuated by the fact that the Peugeot is longer with a size of 4.05 m compared to 3.92 m for the Renault, which does not help either.
We have imagined a Renault 5 that is 100% gasoline-powered, with proportions more related to a sedan than an SUV. A return to its roots with a look more in line with that of its ancestor born in 1972. The illusion comes when we “virtually” park the two versions side by side. Closer to the ground and without the wheel arches that tend to reduce the wheel diameters, our gasoline-powered Renault 5 appears longer, wider, and more generously equipped than its electric counterpart that exists in real life. It’s perplexing. An effect that will be observed soon in the street when a Renault 5 E-Tech is parked next to a Peugeot 208.
Renault has no plans to offer a gasoline version with a different morphology alongside its 100% electric R5 E-Tech as it would be an industrial nonsense. Instead, it will be the Clio 6 that will assume this role, with a very low and dynamic “car-like” posture that is very different from the SUV-style R5. The Renault Clio 6 will compete with the current Peugeot 208, which will be restyled for a second time, while the third generation of the Peugeot 208 arriving in 2026 will challenge the Renault 5 E-Tech.