This New $23,000 EV Should Be Packed With Style And Charm

• Renault teases the upcoming Twingo E-Tech city EV one month before its debut.
• The Twingo E-Tech shares its underpinnings with the characterful 5 but is smaller, cheaper and more modular inside.
• Renault confirms the electric Twingo will cost less than $23,200 (€20,000) when it arrives next year.

After driving the fantastic little Renault 5 E-Tech, I can’t help but be excited for its little brother, the new Twingo E-Tech. Renault has revealed the first photos of the production model, which will be fully unveiled on Nov. 6 before going on sale in Europe sometime next year.

Everyone who has driven a Renault 5 E-Tech has showered it with praise. Even the former Top Gear and The Grand Tour star Jeremy Clarkson, who is a self-declared EV skeptic, loved it in his review for The Times. But I think the new Twingo will be even better.

Photo by: Renault

Photo by: Renault

Photos by: Renault

It will be built on the same platform as the 5 E-Tech, which is fun to drive and efficient, but it will be smaller and more affordable. Renault promises a “big” and “modular” interior, which may mean it will get a sliding rear bench seat. In the 5, there’s not much rear legroom, but with a sliding bench, you could alternate between having more room for second-row passengers or extra cargo capacity in the trunk.

What I can already tell you with certainty is that the design will be something else. Like the 5, which revives cues from the 1970s and ‘80s, the new Twingo is also retro-inspired. However, its inspiration is the first-generation Twingo from 1993.

And while the Renault 5 had a mishmash of elements from several models, only the original Twingo serves as inspiration for the new one. Renault is even bringing back the three air vents set to the right of the windshield, one of the Twingo’s most iconic design touches.

Renault released a series of teaser shots of the production car, and it thankfully stays true to the fantastic-looking concept. It shows what the front fascia will look like, complete with its daytime running lights that Renault says have a mischievous look. They wrap around the headlight projectors, which look like they are of the pop-up variety (even though they aren’t).

Interestingly, Renault seems to have used the exact same half-moon lights in the back, with the only difference being the color and what’s inside. The car will have a strongly sloping front where the hood continues the line of the steeply raked windshield, just like in the original.

The rear window is rounded for extra cuteness, although it may reflect the third brake light in weird ways, like it does in some other French cars with curved glass.

Photo by: Renault

Its starting price in Europe will be under €20,000 ($23,200), which will be even lower once the local EV incentives are factored in. They vary from country to country across the EU. In France, for instance, if you scrap an old car to buy an EV, you can deduct up to €7,000 off the list price, making a car like the new Twingo very attractive indeed as a stylish city runabout.

What really matters is that the Twingo will be cheap enough to compete with the BYD Seagull (also known as the Dolphin Surf) and other cheap city EVs coming in from China, like the Leapmotor T03. Dacia is also preparing to launch its own even cheaper EV based on the same underpinnings as the Twingo E-Tech, as well as something smaller and more quirky.