Now that’s a makeover - here’s the new Renault 4, reinvented as a rugged, all-electric, adventure-loving SUV.
Renault is on something of a retro-electrification mission at present.
The French firm has already given a plug-in overhaul to its much-loved Renault 5, even creating the astonishing-looking Renault 5 Turbo 3E drift car.
And now Renault has turned its attention to the iconic Renault 4, giving it battery power and renaming it as the ‘adventure ready’ ‘4EVER’ Trophy.
Why is the Renault 4 - also known as the ‘4L’ - such a legendary car in the first place?
(1984 Renault 4, above. Credit)
Well, it is widely considered to be the World’s first mass-produced hatchback, going on sale back in 1962.
It was a Gallic rival to Citroen’s 2CV, sharing similar proportions and the same laid-back, unpretentious, agricultural charm.
The Renault 4 also had a bloody good inning, being built from the early Sixties all the way up until the early Nineties. Chances are you knew someone, or someone’s parents, who had one.
So, you can see how the Renault 4 was ripe for a reintroduction.
The difference here is that while the original Renault 4 had max power of 32 hp, the all-electric Renault 4EVER Trophy will boast considerably more oomph.
It sits on the same ‘CMF-BEV’ electric platform as the new Renault 5, which means you can expect the Renault 4 to have around 130 hp.
For now at least, the 4EVER Trophy is being called a ‘show car’, created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the ‘4L Trophy Humanitarian Rally’ - an annual event since 1997 and which sees intrepid explorers crossing the Moroccan desert in order to ferry supplies to school children.
You can only take part in the 4L Trophy Humanitarian Rally if you’re a student driving a, you guessed it, Renault 4.
But the 4EVER will ultimately ‘pave the way’ for a proper, road-going all-electric Renault 4, and the firm has confirmed it’ll sit alongside the Clio and Captur in the manufacturer’s range.
While the new-look Renault 4 is wholly different to the original, Renault says the 4EVER Trophy has retained certain features from the first 4.
They include a wide, horizontal front grille, ‘prominent bonnet, bumper, and hallmark angled rear section’, as well as ‘trapezoidal side windows with their rounded corners’ at the rear.
Luca de Meo, Chief Executive Officer of Renault, says:
“The 4L is a legend. And legends never die! Today, it is this universal dimension of the 4L, a car that everyone can love, that we want to find through a modern and electric reinterpretation of the Renault 4."
While 4EVER Trophy is clearly an off-road car by nature, it was also designed to be enjoyed ‘on any road, fuss-free’.
A Renault spokesperson adds:
“The future electric 4L aims to be as versatile as its predecessor once was – or rather has always been since 1962.”
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