The Renault 5 Turbo 3E hot hatch will go into production, but will be pricey
Who said electric cars have to be boring?
Certainly not France’s Renault, which today confirmed it will launch one of the most extreme electric vehicles we’ve seen yet.
The wild Renault 5 Turbo 3E – a battery-powered hot hatch inspired by the iconic 1980s rally legend the Renault 5 Turbo – will go into production, the company has announced.
However, it won’t be readily available or cheap.
Rather than a series-production model, the R5 Turbo 3E will be a hand-built, limited-edition EV, made in very low numbers and likely to cost well into six figures.
Described by Renault as a ‘spectacular sports car that’s adrenaline on wheels’, it will boast 500bhp, insane rear-wheel drive and a 0-100km/h sprint time of 3.5 seconds, which is fast enough to scare most supercars to make. .
An electric car that even car enthusiasts can get excited about: Renault confirms its eighties-inspired 5 Turbo 3E hot hatch will go into production, but it’s likely to cost more than £100,000
For the expected huge price tag you buy a retro-inspired hot hatchback, wrapped in carbon fiber.
Unlike the standard R5 EV, which has a choice of a 40 kWh or 52 kWh battery and up to 150 hp, the Turbo 3E will be much more powerful.
Renault says it will be more than three times as powerful thanks to a larger battery pack and a pair of electric motors.
These e-motors in the wheels on the rear axle deliver up to 500 horses of immediate performance for each wheel separately. At first glance, it sounds like it could be quite a handful.
The huge wheel arches, boxy features and compact dimensions are very similar to the 1980s Renault 5 Turbo rally cars used in the 1980s (left)
The Renault 5 Turbo – or ‘R5’ – is one of the beloved cars of the formidable Group B generation, alongside cars such as the Audi Quattro, Lancia 037 and Delta S4, Peugeot 205 T16, Metro 6R4 and Ford RS200
The Renault 5 Turbo is still considered a rally icon. Here are French driver Paul Chieusse and his co-driver Fabienne Brunet de Bainne at the Legend Boucles a Bastogne in Belgium in February 2016
Unlike the standard front-engine Renault 5 of the 1980s, the Turbo had a fire-breathing 1.4-litre petrol engine behind the front seats. The new 5 Turbo 3E will follow suit by being completely different from the R5 EV and pushing performance to the limits
The French team is keeping tight-lipped about the car’s specifications for now, without saying anything about battery size or charging speeds.
However, the charging port is mounted in one of the external air intakes, a faithful nod to the original’s scoop-mounted fuel filler.
Based on first impressions, it looks like very little will be carried over from the £22,995 5 E-Tech. That’s not surprising, considering the 5 Turbo 3E will cost about five times as much.
It will strictly be a two-door model – as opposed to the four doors of the regular car – and will take major inspiration from the Renault 5 Turbo unveiled in 1980, including its narrow headlights (although this time LEDs), a huge air intake and a huge front splitter .
Huge, flared arches are connected by wide side skirts and a rear bumper with a huge diffuser to give the 5 Turbo 3E one of the most aggressive stances we’ve seen from an electric car yet.
No images of the cabin have been leaked by Renault, although we fully expect this to be a two-seater with an uncompromising, stripped-down interior.
Described by Renault as a ‘spectacular sports car with adrenaline on wheels’, it will boast 500 hp
The car will be equipped with a powerful e-motor in each of the rear wheels to deliver instant performance in every corner individually. Renault says it will go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds
Huge, flared arches are connected by wide side skirts and a rear bumper with a huge diffuser to give the 5 Turbo 3E one of the most aggressive stances we’ve seen from an electric car yet
The new Renault 5 E-Tech (pictured) will be available in January, priced from £22,995. The 5 Turbo 3E will share very little with it, as the crazy hot hatch will be handcrafted in limited numbers and cost five times as much
The car will be hand-crafted in-house by a specialist team in France in limited numbers. How much has also not been confirmed.
Although the car is described as a 100 percent electric race car, it will be road legal.
Renault said the 5 Turbo 3E is a “reinterpretation of the Renault 5 Turbo and Turbo 2, combining top performance and exuberance with numerous references to the world of motorsport.”
It continued: ‘The racing silhouette and livery are reminiscent of the historic colors of one of the versions that competed in rallies in the early 1980s.
The Renault 5 Turbo 3E, a 100 percent electric racing car, will take advantage of its retro-futuristic design by integrating a modern element, such as the charging socket in one of the rear air intakes, reminiscent of the style of the original ‘Turbo’. ‘.
‘The carbon superstructure will give it both lightness and maximum stiffness, an essential combination for a ‘sports bomb’ worthy of its name and heritage.’
Customers will likely be able to choose their own designs, although most are expected to sport iconic designs from the Renault 5 Turbo’s Group B rally past.
With no word on price yet, anyone interested in getting their hands on one will have to wait at least £100,000 to put it into an account if they’re seriously planning on buying one.
Why does the Group B rally era have legendary status?
Group B was a set of regulations introduced to rallying in 1982 that produced some of the fastest, most powerful, most advanced and lightning-fast competition cars ever built.
The class was fiercely contested, with the Audi Quattro, Lancia O37 and Peugeot 205 T16 winning the WRC titles during the Group B era.
Although it did not win any championships, the Renault 5 Turbo was victorious in a total of four races: the Monte Carlo Rally in 1981, the French Tour de Corse in 1982 and 1985 and the Portuguese Rally in 1986.
The Renault 5 Turbo failed to win a Group B title, but did take four race victories between 1981 and 1986
Group B is commonly referred to as the golden age of rallying, when fans flocked to events in their thousands, sitting as close to the action as possible and often storming the podiums themselves.
The combination of extreme force and traffic on the road or track ultimately resulted in a series of serious accidents, some of which were fatal.
And following the deaths of three-time race winner Henri Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto in the 1986 Tour de Corse, the FIA abolished the class.
The incredible sights and sounds of the early ’80s rally era have – despite being relatively short-lived – achieved legendary status among motorsport fans and car enthusiasts in general.
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