The confirmation was dropped by the company’s head honcho.
The Renault 5 has returned from the dead. This compact car was known in the US as “Le Car” before being discontinued in 1996.
The Renault 5’s return is not without some bad news. Renault has confirmed that the Twingo will be discontinued after 2020, despite selling 43,000 units. Luca de Meo, the head honcho of Renault, confirmed this.
De Meo stated in a statement that Renault has decided to abandon the A-segment. Because of the strict European standards, he believes small cars will no longer have internal combustion engines. These restrictions make it difficult for small cars to be profitable, particularly with the increased taxes that are imposed on nonelectric vehicles.
Daimler’s partnership with France for the production in Slovenia of the Twingo, Smart Forfour and Smart Forfour ended, so it would be expensive to develop and produce the next-generation compact Renault.
Daimler has made a move to China to promote its Smart brand, by forming a 50/50 joint venture with Geely. This will result in , an upcoming cross-over that is based on the Sustainable Experience Architecture of the Chinese company.
With all that being said, the Twingo’s success is assured at this point or within the next decade. The company could concentrate on the Renault 5, which is less or more on the same segment, without the Twingo.
Renault could however, rely on the popularity of the nameplate to bring it back someday as an entirely new model, most likely electric.
Sounds familiar? This was exactly the route the Renault 5 took to get here. That would also depend on the future alliances that the automaker would make to reduce the high development costs.