Zapping Autonews Green Electric cars: the novelties of the year 2022
Fashion is starting over. With the Renault 5, the diamond brand takes its inspiration from the moment. In addition to the future electric Renault 5 of 2024, whose yellow prototype presented in 2020 already announced the color, it is with the model released in 1972 that the French manufacturer wants in the meantime to show what occupies it. And the moment is precisely chosen, since it celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the iconic car, sold more than five million copies in twelve years. The result is something of a jewel, baptized Renault 5 “Diamond” and shaped by the “Colours and Materials” team of the Design department, in association with the French interior designer and designer Pierre Gonalons. The neo-retro aspect is quite subtle, more visible when approaching, by its LED backlit grilles or its integration of on-board technology.
From a distance, we see above all a Renault 5 of yesteryear but even purer, more in the spirit of a “Restomod”, “Retrofit” by the way. That’s to say ? It retains the original look, reviews its general finish according to current standards and exchanges its combustion engine for an electric one with battery according to the Retrofit principle. In the space of about five months, the “5” has therefore been completely overhauled and is still running. However, it is only a concept with no apparent charging socket, the connection being made under the car and the trunk volume being cluttered with all the operating electronics, out of sight. Mobile art-deco support, road approval moves away with each style effect evoking luxury and chic furniture.
24 carats
Renault 5 | Photos of the Diamant model designed by Pierre Gonalons+22
Renault 5 DiamondCredit Photo – Autonews
Its matt candy pink color is immediately perfumed, enhanced by gold-coloured anodized touches on the bumpers, the sills, the radiator grille, the mirrors, the decorative inserts in the rear pillars and along the entire roof line. Nothing illegal to drive, unlike the headlight blocks extracted from the hood, whose glass is worked like a huge faceted diamond. The Renault 5 Diamant would not pass the pedestrian protection tests but would have its place in a beauty contest. Its vocation is exhibition, firmly planted on relatively wide wheels with the very latest Michelin tires, embellished by hollow rims that are totally solid, white and equipped with a domed black flange on which shines in the center the symbol of the sun in gold.
The gold logo at the end of the hood, made by the Parisian workshop Bertin-Aubert, takes up the initials of Pierre Gonalons around the diamond drawn according to the style used in the 70s, which is ultimately very close to its most modern iteration. It signs the R5 Diamant like a big brand bag and makes you want to take a look inside.
Nothing simpler for that. The brass handles, gilded with pale gold, in the shape of a sphere, dress the doors like those of the entrances to buildings in the beautiful districts of the capital. Tactile, just grab them to open them. The passenger compartment is a veritable comfortable and bright living room, one of the most original as well. Mainly with this steering wheel whose rim and the branch which connects it to its axis are made of a piece of marble, applied to a twisted carbon tube. Marble that is found as a central storage compartment and support for the three-position drive direction selector, also in a sphere covered in pale gold.
Techno-class
Start slideshow Renault 5 | Photos of the Diamant model designed by Pierre Gonalons+22
Renault 5 DiamondCredit Photo – Autonews
All driving information is transcribed on three round and 100% digital dials, one being dedicated to a digital clock, the other two displaying speed, power use, battery level… A most recent interface, supplemented by a telephone holder with USB connector, which will serve as an on-board multimedia system, perfectly integrated into the dashboard, in the shape of a tube connecting the two sides of the car, partially covered with horsehair woven by hand by the specialist company Le Horsehair.
All the surfaces of the door panels, the headlining and under the dashboard are made of absolutely smooth light velour. The floor mats exude quality through their use of mohair wool, in a warm brown colour. The semi-bucket seats combine a dynamic appearance through their shape and their outer part in sand-coloured suede with great seating comfort in the central part, covered with fabric partly made of wool.
The standard electric Renault 5 will provide less of this chic side and its concept announces a more dynamic spirit which takes it completely away from this goldsmith’s achievement. The suspense is therefore still total on the final result. Patience remains. The new generation 4L arriving a year later, in 2025, one would imagine another offbeat interpretation of this star model from the Boulogne-Billancourt manufacturer, just to speed up time and discover it, too, in an unexpected outfit. .
to summarize
Star of Renault’s electric product plan for the years to come, the reinterpretation of the Renault 5 in an electric version, scheduled to arrive in series in 2024, still requires a little patience before being discovered. This candy pink Renault 5 “Diamond” concept modernizes the original, also makes it go electric and will occupy people’s minds for a wait that is probably a little shorter.
