Renault revives Twingo with new affordable electric version to boost sales  

By Gilles Guillaume

PARIS, November 6 (Reuters) -Renault unveiled its new electric Twingo small car on Thursday as the French automaker seeks to leverage a popular old model name and a price tag of under 20,000 euros ($23,000) to boost its electric vehicle sales.

The small city car, developed in two years using an engineering team in China, will be manufactured in Slovenia and will go on sale in early 2026, the company said.

The new Twingo still retains the silhouette of its 1992 predecessor and its distinctive round headlights, the latest revival of classic best-selling Renault models that was part of a key strategy of former CEO Luca de Meo - starting with the Renault 5, followed by the Renault 4.

François Provost, who succeeded de Meo on July 31, plans a sustained pace of new launches over the next few years, but has not said whether that will include more iconic model revivals.

EUROPEAN MANUFACTURING, CHINESE BATTERY

Renault sold more than 4.1 million units of the Twingo in 25 countries over three decades. But the small car market has shrunk considerably in Europe as profit margins are too small for the continent's manufacturers.

The European Commission is considering new regulations to revitalise this category of cars.

To accelerate its development time and cut costs, Renault designed the new Twingo in France, but developed it at its ACDC R&D centre in Shanghai.

The car is assembled in Europe, using a more affordable LFP battery from China's CATL and will only come in four colours, Renault said.

Renault's alliance partner Nissan will have a version of the Twingo, and low-cost brand Dacia will also sell one for less than 18,000 euros, the French carmaker said.

($1 = 0.8575 euros)

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume; Writing by Nick Carey; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)