New Renault Twingo 2026 preview: striking EV confirmed for the UK
The uncertainty is over: Renault's all-new electric Twingo WILL come to the UK.
The 2026 city car, which reinvents the utilitarian but charming nineties original for the electric age, will be engineered in right-hand drive. That was a privilege the first-generation car wasn't granted, because Renault didn't want to risk the engineering resources on an unproven concept.
'The UK needs a right-hand-drive Twingo,' Renault brand CEO Fabrice Cambolive told Auto Express on the fringes of the Financial Times' Future of the Car Summit. And it's all down to a tempting consumer proposition, says Cambolive: 'a very compact car but with an interior roominess which could be [from a bigger supermini] – at a really accessible price'. Advertisement - Article continues below
While the second- and third-generation Twingos did make it to the UK, the 1992 original was so 'out of the box', reckons Cambolive, that Renault wouldn't gamble on a concept with such 'diversity'. Ironically Renault's reduced complexity is helping fund the business case this time.
'Now Renault has a line-up with quite reduced diversity in terms of engines – either hybrid or pure BEV – so I think we can afford this additional diversity from Twingo, [to have] right-hand-drive to access strategic markets like UK. It will be very important for us.' Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
The production Twingo is due to be revealed later this year before hitting the streets in 2026 sporting a price tag of just 20,000 Euros – which equates to less than £17,000, for those of us on the other side of the channel. And for context, the new Renault 5 starts from a whisper under £23,000, while its sister SUV, the Renault 4, is set to cost from £27,000.
Renault CEO Luca de Meo described the new Twingo as a 'silver bullet for sustainable mobility,' and said it 'will be a game changer once again, like [the original Twingo] was 30 years ago. This is a fit-for-purpose urban vehicle, state-of-the-art EV without compromise.'
We saw the first concept of the new Renault Twingo in November 2023, and we're told its incredibly quirky and totally retro design won't change too much for the road-going car.
The design is a modern interpretation of the original bug-eyed Twingo, which was launched in 1992. The distinctive rounded headlights are present and correct, as well as a short bonnet, wheels pushed out to the very edges of the car, vertical rear end, and soft, rounded edges. Advertisement - Article continues below
The three air vents on the bonnet are also a nod to the Mk1 Twingo and will feed the EV's air-conditioning system. There are some differences to the original of course, for instance the new model will have five doors, with the rear door handles hidden in the C-pillar as with a Renault Clio. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
It's going to be very affordable, but that doesn't mean the new Twingo will scrimp on the interior. It's set to feature a pair of large digital displays on the dashboard, plus a small bank of physical buttons and rotary dials for the climate control, and sliding and folding rear seats for extra versatility.
We know that the new Renault Twingo will sit on the same AmpR Small platform as the reborn R5 and R4, plus the next Nissan Micra. De Meo has also promised the budget electric city car will deliver 'best-in-class efficiency' of up to 6.2 miles per kilowatt-hour, however details about its powertrain are yet to be confirmed.
The Renault 5 offers up to 193 miles of range, powered by a 118bhp e-motor and a 40kWh battery. But the Twingo is set to introduce a cheaper, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery. Although this chemistry doesn't pack as much energy as the NMC batteries powering the R4 and R5, clever design means more cells can be packed into the wheelbase to deliver sufficient range – maybe up to 200 miles. Advertisement - Article continues below
Assuming the Twingo gets a 40kWh pack and the same 80kW maximum charging speed as the base R5, a 10 to 80 per cent top-up will take around half an hour.
When the Renault Twingo concept was unveiled in 2023, de Meo boldly promised it would go from concept to production in just two years to match the speed of Chinese car makers, and bring the budget EV to market in 2026.
To help achieve this ambitious timeframe, and reduce the cost of the project, the Twingo is being developed with help of a Chinese engineering partner. In an exclusive interview with Auto Express, sales director of Renault France and former managing director of the brand in the UK, Guillaume Sicard, revealed: 'We have our engineering over in France in the Techno Centre that is working in partnership with an engineering consultancy firm in China so we can work 24/7. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below
'It also means we double the forces working on the project because we have two engineering centres, and the Chinese have a very speedy way of iterations and fixing issues. They go extremely quickly to take decisions, they force their process to go quickly and are a bit ahead of us in terms of technology on many aspects.' Advertisement - Article continues below
He continued: 'The Techno Center in Paris will be in charge of all the coordination, and will be in charge of some aspects, specifically everything that is related to the brand's fundamentals, such as the design and so on. Then after that the Chinese consultancy firm will be in charge of some specific developments for the battery, the motor, the software.'
But while Ampere is still the MC, or 'master of ceremony', on the Twingo according to Sicard, one benefit he sees in having a Chinese engineering consultancy firm involved is 'it's discovering new suppliers that can propose on-the-shelf solutions. I'm pretty sure we will have some on the shelf solutions that have proven to be efficient for a BYD, human horizons or whatever. We will probably have a few.'
He added: 'It's an open world and we have to bring the best to our customers. Our customers want the best of technology at the best price.'
The Renault Twingo will have a starting price of under €20,000, which equates to roughly £17,000 at the current exchange rate and would make it one of the cheapest electric cars on the market. Thanks to its low list price, Renault claims the Twingo will also be available from less than €100 per month (under £90).
How does the Twingo compare with its chief rivals? Prices for the new Renault 5 start from exactly £22,995, while the Citroen e-C3 – the most recent recipient of our Affordable Electric Car of the Year award – is available from less than £22k. The cheapest EV currently on sale is, of course, the £15k Dacia Spring.
Click here for our list of the cheapest electric cars on sale...
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