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Nissan to create an electric city car based on the Twingo

Renault's Ampère division to develop a low-cost car for Japanese allies

Renault Twingo E-Tech Electric Prototype
Photo by: Renault

Another low-cost electric car is on the way. The promise comes from French company Ampère, a division of the Renault group dedicated to battery-powered vehicles, which will "explore the development" of an all-electric city car for Nissan, the Japanese company that forms part of the alliance with the Losange and its compatriots Mitsubishi.

The city car will be built on the same platform as the Twingo, another low-cost car being prepared by the transalpine manufacturer and a zero-emission remake of the 1990s hatchback that was to have been designed in collaboration with Volkswagen, unless the German manufacturer subsequently abandoned the project (perhaps also due to the choice of trade unions, as Motor1 Germany has uncovered).

An attractive and affordable price

All we know about Nissan's future economy car is that it will be priced "attractively and affordably", according to Japanese CEO Makato Uchida. Once ready, it will join the new Micra in the range, the successor to the hatchback produced in various versions from 1982 to 2022.

New Renault Twingo electric, presentation of the concept

Concept of the new Renault Twingo electric

Its parent company will still be Ampere, which will be working on it from 2025. The French division will also be working on a compact SUV for Mitsubishi. The details, even in these two cases, remain a mystery.

What is certain is that, thanks to its efforts on the Micra, the transalpine company is acquiring the knowledge needed to reduce the costs of new cars. "The project is going very, very well. We're on schedule and on budget," says Luca De Meo, Renault CEO.


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