- 1980s Renault 5 Turbo reimagined as electric hatchback
- Renault 5 Turbo 3E going into full production in 2025
- Gets 500 bhp and supercar acceleration
- Hot hatch fans weeping with joy
Hot hatch fans rejoice, because the Renault 5 Turbo is officially on the comeback trail - and seen here for the first time.
For readers of a certain vintage, the Renault 5 Turbo was the poster boy of the hatchback world.
Unleashed in 1980 and honed on the crazy stages of the World Rally Championship, the Renault 5 Turbo (above) was quite unlike anything we’d seen before.
A mid-mounted 1.4 litre petrol engine put 160 bhp to the rear wheels while the in-your-face exterior styling was impossible to ignore, largely thanks to those boxy, flared wheel arches.
The Renault Turbo 2 joined the party in 1983 while the slightly more sedate, but still highly sought-after, Renault 5 GT Turbo arrived in the late 1980s.
And now, long after the boy racers who first lusted after one have sprouted grey hairs, the Renault 5 Turbo is back as the Renault 5 Turbo 3E and ready to set the cat amongst the pigeons.
As you can probably guess, it’s fully-electric and based on the award-winning new Renault 5 E-Tech.
Renault describes its new sports car as ‘adrenalin on wheels’ while Luca de Meo, CEO of Renault Group has confirmed it’s a full-on production model. We’re not quite sure when it’ll officially arrive yet, but we can expect more announcements in 2025.
Like its predecessor, it’ll be rear-wheel drive. Unlike its predecessor, it’ll have a whopping 500 bhp and be capable of accelerating from 0-62 mph in just 3.5 seconds. The original Turbo 1 took just under 7 seconds to reach the same speed from a standstill.
We expect the Turbo 3E to use the same 52 kWh battery as the ‘Comfort Range’ Renault 5 E-Tech models while two electric motors will drive the rear wheels.
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A Renault spokesperson tells us: “With the looks and livery of a car built for the track, it sports the historic colours of one of the rallying versions of the early 1980s. Renault 5 Turbo 3E is an all-electric hot hatch of retro-futuristic design, with an eminently modern charging socket in one of the rear air intakes, bringing to mind the styling of the original 'Turbo'. The carbon superstructure is both lightweight and extremely stiff, two qualities that are fundamental for a ‘pocket rocket’ worthy of its name and heritage.”
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The car itself was also teased in a new Amazon Prime documentary - Anatomy of a Comeback- which charts how the Renault Group was on the verge of collapse in the early 2020s, only to be picking up industry awards like they’re going out of fashion right now, particularly for the Scenic E-Tech.
Want an alternative to the Renault 5 Turbo 3E? You’ve also got the Alpine A290 to look forward to in 2025, which is Alpine’s own unique take on the Renault 5 E-Tech.
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