Renault could add another reborn icon to its line-up in the near future in the form of a new, all-electric version of the 4, after a trademark application for a new Renault 4 badge – in the same style as that found on the new 5 Prototype – was discovered.
It will be another key vehicle in an electrification drive that will see Renault launch seven new fully-electric vehicles by 2025. Earlier in 2021, the brand revealed the stunning Renault 5 Prototype, which is due in 2023 as an affordable electric small car.
Renault hasn’t gone on record with any plans to revive the 4. But, there has been plenty of speculation suggesting that the brand will commit to a reboot of the model as another affordable small EV with heavy inspiration from the original, which was one of the brand’s greatest sales successes.
Over a 31 year production run spanning from 1961 to 1992, the brand produced over eight million units of the 4 and its cheaper Renault 3 derivative.
This year sees the original 4 celebrate its 60th anniversary, and Renault has teased that there will be a “surprise” based on the 4L van in November. That could be a hint that we could see a concept previewing the vehicle by the end of 2021, and ties in with further rumours that the new 4 will be a cheap, electric commercial vehicle counterpart to the passenger carrying 5.
Should the 4 be based on the same underpinnings as the new 5, it will use the CMF-B platform currently used by the Zoe hatchback, which is a modified version of the Clio’s underpinnings, made suitable for an all-electric drivetrain.
James Brodie