Who said electric cars have to be boring?
Certainly not French firm Renault, which has today confirmed it will bring to market 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 eighties rally legend, the Renault 5 Turbo – will go into production, the company has said.
However, it won’t be readily available – or cheap.
Rather than a volume production run model, the R5 Turbo 3E will be a limited-edition, hand-built EV made in very low numbers that’s likely to cost well into six figures.
Described by Renault as a ‘spectacular sports car that is adrenalin on wheels’, it will boast 500bhp, a crazy rear-wheel-drive setup and a 0-to-62mph sprint time of 3.5 seconds, which is quick enough to scare most supercars.
An electric car even petrolheads can get excited about: Renault confirms its eighties-inspired 5 Turbo 3E hot hatch will go into production – but it is likely to cost in excess of £100k
The expected enormous price tag will buy you a retro-inspired hot hatchback cloaked in carbon fibre.
Unlike the standard R5 EV, which has the choice of 40kWh or 52kWh battery and up to 150bhp, the Turbo 3E will be abundantly more potent.
Renault says it will be more than three times as powerful thanks to a larger battery pack and a pair of electric motors.
These in-wheel e-motors on the rear axle will deliver up to 500 horses of instant performance to each wheel independently. On the face of things, it sounds like it could be a real handful.
The huge wheel arches, boxy features and compact dimensions strike a strong likeness to the 1980s Renault 5 Turbo rally cars used in the 1980s (left)
The Renault 5 Turbo – or ‘R5’ – is one of the adored cars of the fearsome Group B generation, alongside the likes of 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, French driver Paul Chieusse and his co-driver Fabienne Brunet de Bainne are seen competing in the Legend Boucles a Bastogne in Belgium in February 2016
Unlike the front-engined standard Renault 5 in the 1980s, the Turbo had a fire-spitting 1.4-litre petrol engine mounted behind the front seats. The new 5 Turbo 3E will follow suit by being totally different to the R5 EV to take performance to the extreme
The French outfit is remaining tight lipped about the specification of the car for now, with no word yet on the size of the battery or charging speeds.
However, the charge port is mounted inside one of the external air scoops in a faithful nod to the original’s scoop-mounted fuel filler.
From first impressions, it looks like very little will be carried over from the £22,995 5 E-Tech. That’s unsurprising, given the 5 Turbo 3E will cost around five times as much.
It will strictly be a two-door model – unlike the mainstream car’s four doors – and take huge inspiration from the 1980-unveiled Renault 5 Turbo, including its narrow headlights (though this time LEDs), a massive air intake and huge front splitter.
Enormous, flared arches are linked by wide side skirts and a rear bumper that incorporates 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, though we fully expect this to be a two-seater with an uncompromised, stripped back interior.
Described by Renault as a ‘spectacular sports car that is adrenalin on wheels’, it will boast 500bhp
The car will be fitted with a potent in-wheel e-motor in each of the rear wheels to deliver instant performance to each corner independently. Renault says it will do 0-62mph in 3.5 secs
Enormous, flared arches are linked by wide side skirts and a rear bumper that incorporates 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 bonkers hot hatch will be hand-crafted in limited number and cost five times as much
The car will be hand-crafted in-house by a specialist team in France, and in limited numbers. Just how many also hasn’t been confirmed.
While it has been described as a 100 per cent electric racing 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-class performance and exuberance with numerous references to the world of motor racing’.
It went on: ‘Its racing silhouette and livery are reminiscent of the historic colours of one of the versions entered in rallies in the early 1980s.
‘A 100 per cent electric racing car, the Renault 5 Turbo 3E will take advantage of its retro-futuristic design to incorporate a modern element such as the charging socket in one of the rear air scoops, reminiscent of the style of the original ‘Turbo’.
‘Its carbon superstructure will give it both lightness and maximum rigidity, an essential combination for a ‘sports bomb’ worthy of its name and heritage.’
Customers are likely to be able to choose their own designs, though most are expected to carry iconic schemes from the Renault 5 Turbo’s Group B rallying past.
With no word yet on price, anyone interested in getting their hands on one will need to have at least £100,000 sat waiting to go in an account if they’re serious about buying one.
Why does the Group B rally era have legendary status?
Group B was a set of regulations for introduced in 1982 for rallying that fostered some of the fastest, most powerful, sophisticated and ferociously 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.
While it didn’t win any championships, the Renault 5 Turbo did take victory in four races in total: 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 rack up four race wins between 1981 and 1986
Group B is commonly referred to as the golden era of rallying, when fans would flock in their thousands to events, sitting as close to the action as possible and often spilling onto the stages themselves.
The combination of extreme power and crowds forming in the road or track ultimately resulted in a series of major accidents, some of them fatal.
And after the death of three-time race winner Henri Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto in the 1986 Tour de Corse, the FIA disestablished the class.
The incredible sights and sounds from that early-80s era of rallying – despite being relatively short-lived – has acquired legendary status among motorsport fans and petrolheads in general.
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