New Renault ‘Legend’ budget electric city car to be unveiled today

The new electric city car will start from roughly £17,000, or close to £90 per month

Renault’s new EV arm, Ampere, will unveil an affordable electric city car currently being referred to as the ‘Legend’ later today. The maker says it will boast “best-in-class efficiency” and a starting price of under €20,000 – or roughly £17,000 at current exchange rates.

The potential Citroen e-C3 and Dacia Spring rival will be revealed during Ampere’s capital markets day this afternoon –Wednesday 15 November. It’s worth noting that Ampere isn’t a spin-off brand, it’s a separate division that focuses on electric vehicles, and will be producing cars that will wear the Renault badge and sit in the company’s showrooms. 

That means the ‘Legend’, which is highly unlikely to be the car’s official name, will sit below the new, all-electric Renault 5 hatchback and Renault 4 compact SUV in the French firm’s line-up, meaning it could serve as a zero-emissions successor to the quirky Twingo that went off sale in the UK in 2014. 

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We’ll find out more about the ‘Legend’ later today, but Ampere has already shared that it will offer remarkable efficiency figures of up to 6.2 miles per kilowatt-hour, and over its lifetime will be responsible for 75 per cent less CO2 emissions than the “average European ICE car” sold in 2023. It will also be made in Europe and thanks to its low list price, Ampere claims the ‘Legend’ will be available from less than €100 per month (under £90).

No technical details have been revealed yet, but Ampere already has a bespoke electric-car platform for B-segment models called AmpR Small (previously CMF-B EV) which will serve as the underpinnings for the new Renault 5 and 4. It seems logical that the ‘Legend’ would utilise the same technology. 

Ampere will contribute towards a seven-strong European electric car line-up for Renault by 2031, which will include the Megane E-Tech, Scenic E-Tech, Renault 5, Renault 4, ‘Legend’, and two additional vehicles. It’s also aiming to reach EV/ICE price parity by 2027-2028, with a plan to reduce variable costs for its second-generation of larger C-segment electric vehicles (Megane E-Tech and Scenic E-Tech successors) by up to 40 per cent. Ampere hopes to be selling around 300,000 EVs per year by 2025, growing to one million in 2031.  

In addition to making the all-electric Renault 5 due on sale next year, along with the forthcoming Renault 4 and ‘Legend, Ampere will also be producing at least two models for performance brand Alpine, the next Micra for Nissan, and will support Dacia’s electrification journey too.

CEO of Renault Group, Luca de Meo, said ahead of the reveal of the new Ampere model: “In the true spirit of Renault, Ampere is engineered to make electric and connected cars affordable for all, addressing the imperatives of energy transition and seizing the growth opportunities on the market.”

He added: “the uniqueness of Ampere is based on an open and horizontal approach with best-in-class partners, ensuring low-risk, flexibility, and smart capital allocation to navigate a fast changing and competitive environment.”

Now read our review of the new Renault Clio…

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