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Renault 5 Alpine electric hot hatch imagined

Retro-styled hot hatch scores a high-performance makeover, courtesy of Renault's revitalised performance brand Alpine.


The reborn Renault 5 electric hatch caught the Internet's heartstrings following its unveiling earlier this month, its retro-inspired styling blending well with its 2020s-era all-electric powertrain. But what would a high-performance version look like?

Here's our take on a go-fast version of the upcoming Renault 5, suitably wearing Groupe Renault's repositioned performance moniker: Alpine.

Using the Renault 5 Prototype as a base, our render takes design cues from hot Renault 5 models of the 1970s and 1980s, from the mid-engined Turbo to the less powerful, but much-loved Alpine (a name, interestingly enough, shared with its modern equivalent).

Multi-spoke, orange-accented alloy wheels from the Renault 5 Turbo fill the arches, while that car's signature side air intake (used to cool its mid-mounted petrol engine) has been duplicated, resized and repurposed to serve as brake cooling vents.

The illuminated 'RENAULT' badge across the lower front bumper has been replaced with a road-legal, law-friendly European licence plate, while the six small air vents that surround it have been enlarged for greater visual aggression.

Alpine badges adorn the front bumper and front quarter panel, and are joined by bright blue paint with red accents around the windows, on the mirrors and inside the cabin. There's also a subtle tailgate spoiler to round out the hot-hatch upgrades.

It's worth noting we've opted to position the Renault 5 Alpine as a hotted-up version of the standard Renault 5, rather than Alpine's standalone, production-bound, B-segment electric hot hatch teased during the 'Renaulution' announcement earlier this month.

As a result, we've decided to keep the 5 Alpine's square LED daytime-running lights in the bottom corners of the bumper, in keeping with the concept, rather than the centrally-mounted positions set to adorn Alpine's production model, as teased through a shadowy image during the presentation.

As for what would power our Renault 5 Alpine, the upcoming, showroom-bound Renault 5's CMF-B platform – an architecture never before used for an electric vehicle – makes an educated guess on the Alpine's mechanical specifications hard to make.

Using the larger CMF-EV platform's 'oily bits' as a guide, we'd hope to see that architecture's entry-level, all-wheel-drive platform feature in the hot city car, which sees two electric motors and a 63kWh battery pack combine to develop 178kW of power and 300Nm of torque.

While versions of the Nissan Ariya mid-size SUV with the same powertrain can cover the 0-100km/h sprint in 7.6 seconds, the compact Alpine's smaller body and footprint should translate to a kerb weight closer to the current Renault Zoe electric hatch's 1470kg than the Ariya's 1800kg.

As a result, we'd wager a 0-100km/h time in the low-to-mid six-second bracket – a fair chunk quicker than the punchiest petrol-powered players in the B-segment hot hatch class, the 6.7-second Volkswagen Polo GTI and Ford Fiesta ST.

Do our estimates have any footing in production? Only time will tell, as the production Renault 5 electric vehicle – and any potential Alpine-fettled variant – will be unveiled in full in the coming years, with Renault official documents pointing to a European market launch in 2023 or 2025.


Below: The original Renault 5 Turbo

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Alex Misoyannis

Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.

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