Renault finally teams up with a Chinese manufacturer to develop the electric Twingo

The French manufacturer has just announced that it will collaborate with a Chinese engineering firm to develop its next electric city car, with the goal of giving it a starting price below 20,000 euros. Although the name of the Chinese partner has not been disclosed, a spokesperson for Renault has said that development of the Twingo is progressing rapidly and will be completed within a couple of years.

Additionally, the company has explained that this collaboration with the Chinese engineering partner will allow it to improve development times and costs. The project is led by Ampere, with design and advanced engineering carried out in France, and production will take place in Europe as originally planned, it has assured.

With this affordably priced Twingo, Renault hopes to compete with Chinese rivals such as BYD, which is flooding the market with small, inexpensive electric vehicles. The truth is that partnerships between European and Chinese manufacturers are becoming increasingly common. To give just a couple of examples, Volkswagen has already announced an alliance with XPENG and Stellantis with Leapmotor.

The new electric Twingo should reach the European market in 2026

Renault presented a first prototype of this electric city car last November, with many design elements taken from the first generation of the Twingo from the 1990s. Structurally, however, this prototype has nothing in common with the current generation of the Twingo, which still shares its platform with the now discontinued Smart Forfour.

As you will probably remember, Renault initially tried to collaborate with Volkswagen to develop its electric city car. However, the talks did not come to a successful conclusion, apparently because the German manufacturer did not want to produce its electric city car at a Renault plant. As a result, just a few days ago Volkswagen announced that it will ultimately produce this model on its own.

Finally, it should be noted that Renault states that the partnership with the Chinese engineering company is not a consequence of the failed talks with Volkswagen. That decision was made even earlier. Nevertheless, Renault’s CEO, Luca de Meo, has regretted that the cooperation with Volkswagen did not materialize, as in his opinion such an agreement would have demonstrated that the European industry is capable of working as a team. He has also described the breakdown of negotiations with the German manufacturer as a missed opportunity, although he has chosen to be positive, stating that there may be other opportunities in the future.