The challenge for car manufacturers dedicated to transition to electric vehicles that of making electricity accessible to all. Offering affordable models is necessary to speed up mass adoption, as not everyone can or wants to buy cars priced at €30,000. From this perspective, Luca De Meo, CEO of the Renault Group, was inspired by Japanese kei-cars.
These are small cars with a maximum length of 3.4 meters that enjoy tax exemptions and registration benefits in Japan, precisely to meet the challenges of traffic congestion and parking on the chaotic streets of Tokyo and other Japanese metropolises. Renault is working on a new electric vehicle project which will be in the range of basic cars and could be incorporated, within the group, to the Dacia Spring, a successful fully electric model (BEV).
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Towards a Renault kei car
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Other perspectives for the new city car of Renault 2023-2024
Towards a Renault kei car
During Future of the Car, an event organized by the Financial Times, Luca De Meo, CEO of Renault, revealed that French designers are working on an electric vehicle with a price below 20,000 euros. This detail suggests that Renault is not limited to a simple task, but is developing something daring. The idea of adapting the Japanese concept of kei cars to European tastes arouses my interest.
The manager pointed it out kei cars are intelligent vehicles: light, small, easy to park and incentivized by lower insurance rates. Although some kei cars have been introduced in Europe, such as the Daihatsu Cuore or the “sporty” Copen, they have not been very successful. Even the Nissan Cube, a very popular kei car at home, has been less successful on our continent.
Therefore, Renault seems to want to be inspired by the concept of car kei instead of directly importing a model as Japanese manufacturers have done in the past. In fact, the weight is a crucial element for the success of an electric vehicle, since it greatly influences the range, while the size affects the price. Therefore, the characteristics of kei cars are perfectly adapted to the current environment. The challenge is to find the right formula and mix to conquer the European market.
Other perspectives for the new city car of Renault 2023-2024
We cannot exclude the hypothesis that the electric vehicle with a price of less than 20,000 euros shares the chassis and ideas with the dacia spring, a project within the Renault group that could fit that purpose. The Spring measures just over 3.7 meters long, offers a range of up to 230 km, has a relatively low weight for an electric vehicle (less than 1,000 kg) and if the power could raise skepticism (45 or 65 CV), the available torque is more than adequate (at least 125 Nm).
Alternatively, and this is perhaps the most likely option, Renault could work on an existing projectlike that of the recent kei electric car called sakura, which its ally Nissan already sells in Japan. Even if it would return to an area that has not been successful in the past, that is, importing a model from abroad rather than developing one from scratch in Europe.
On the impact and importance of a Extremely affordable electric RenaultDe Meo said: “At the moment I am the president of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association and we are faced with some issues that we don’t think are right for the industry. But at the same time we are fully aware of the need to offer solutions to the problems. And I think the ability to produce an A-segment electric vehicle with a low environmental impact is one of those solutions.”
