Renault 5 Turbo 3E – 544 PS RWD EV hot hatch, in-wheel motors, 0-100 km/h 3.5 secs, drift handbrake!

What you’re looking at is not a concept. This is the Renault 5 Turbo 3E, and according to the French carmaker, this is exactly what the über hatch will look like when it enters showrooms in 2027. Sacré bleu!

As you can see, the Turbo 3E is very obviously an homage to the wild Renault 5 Turbo, a mid-engined rally homologation special that burst onto the scene in 1980. The 3E in the name refers to it being not only the “third-generation” model (a slightly less wild Turbo 2 followed the original in 1983), but also the first in the series to be electric.

That’s right – the Turbo 3E follows the new-age Renault 5 E-Tech in featuring an electric powertrain. Despite sharing its name, a few exterior bits and much of the interior with the city car, the mechanicals have been revised so completely that an entirely new aluminium platform had to be built specifically for it.

It all starts with the motors. There are two of them, and conventional wisdom suggests they’d be mounted on each axle to provide safe and stable all-wheel drive. But no – the Turbo 3E follows in its lairy forebear’s footsteps by sending all power to the rear wheels only, with the dual motors delivering real torque vectoring.

Even more amazingly, the Turbo 3E utilises in-wheel motors, sitting within the massive 20-inch dish-like wheels. While this setup does increase unsprung weight, Renault touts a lower overall weight across the rear “axle” thanks to the ditching of driveshafts and associated components, along with even more instantaneous throttle response and a high torque output.

How high? Try a whopping 4,800 Nm. Combined with a total power output of 544 PS (400 kW), this propels the Turbo 3E from zero to 100 km/h in under 3.5 seconds, on its way to a top speed of 270 km/h. Meanwhile, a 70 kWh battery delivers an estimated range of over 400 km, and Renault claims the battery will be able to sustain several hot laps before needing to be recharged.

Speaking of charging, the Turbo 3E further differentiates itself from its piddling sibling by having an 800-volt architecture, enabling DC fast charging at up to 350 kW; this tops up the battery from 15 to 80% charge in just 15 minutes. However, AC charging is still capped at 11 kW, taking eight hours for a full charge.

Despite all this high-tech componentry, the Turbo 3E’s aluminium platform, carbon fibre “superstructure” and two-seat layout means it weighs just 1,450 kg – a featherweight for an EV. Renault’s sports car arm Alpine has made full use of the car’s mouthwatering specs, setting up the suspension and tuning it for maximum agility, performance and drifting ability.

Aiding the latter is a drift assist function, built into the Multi-Sense drive mode selector’s dedicated Race setting. You also get a huge vertical handbrake shoehorned into the Renault 5’s rather pedestrian interior, enabling you to channel your inner Jean Ragnotti.

But the Turbo 3E’s biggest draw is unquestionably its outlandish style, successfully harking back to the original Turbo with its swollen box wheel arch flares and gaping air intakes. Compared to the regular five-door Renault 5, the car loses its rear doors and gains 160 mm in length (4,080 mm), 30 mm in wheelbase (2,570 mm) and a scarcely-believable 260 mm in width (2,030 mm), while the height has dropped by some 120 mm (1,380 mm). Only a few components, such as the mirrors and taillights, are shared with the standard 5.

The front end is bespoke to this car, with impossibly slim headlights set within large square housings, sitting above a huge bumper opening that houses square daytime running lights. The jutting front splitter directs air through the front of the car, exiting through the bonnet vents to increase downforce.

The air is further managed along the sides of the car – air curtains draw air over the front wheels, while the rear fender intakes on the original Turbo now perform double duty. The upper scoop channels air through the fenders and out the rear vents; the lower scoop cools the brakes. The left upper scoop also conceals the charging port.

Elsewhere, the protruding window surrounds mimic the Turbo’s rain gutters, melding into the tailgate spoiler in a similar fashion. The black tailgate finisher on the regular 5 also now doubles as a second spoiler, while the bumper is dominated by enormous dual diffuser channels.

Inside, the standard 5’s minimalist horizontal dashboard and angled widescreen display panel (housing a 10.1-inch digital instrument display and a 10.25-inch OpenR infotainment display) are joined by an Alpine-style flat-bottomed steering wheel. The latter houses a bright red overtake button for an extra accelerative boost, plus a blue four-position rotary selector for the regenerative braking. Two occupants sit in carbon bucket seats and a strapped in using six-point harnesses, while a rear half-cage takes the place of a rear bench.

Buyers can choose from several colour schemes and liveries that again hark back to the Turbo’s rallying heritage, as well as an array of personalisation options. They will even be able to work with Renault’s designers to come up with a completely bespoke design.

None of this will come cheap, and while a price tag has yet to be revealed, a production run of only 1,980 units hints at the car’s exclusivity. Selected key markets such as Europe, Japan, the Middle East and Australia will have their order books open in the coming weeks.

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