The Renault 5 celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Symbol of the popular car at the end of the 70s, the city car sold more than 5 million copies. To celebrate this half-century, the French manufacturer has teamed up with designer Pierre Gonalons to create the R5 Diamant, an electric showcar that brings the grandmother of the Twingo.
“Pierre Gonalons is a young designer from Lyon who specializes in furniture and interior design. He defends a design that mixes decorative arts, popular culture and minimalism”, explains Renault. It is a contrast between a refined bodywork, here tinted with golden pigments on a pink base, and aesthetic details deliberately taken out of their environment that the designer wanted to highlight.
Indeed, this Renault 5 Diamant retains the shape of the original 1972 model but the designer wanted to highlight all the aesthetic artifices such as the front and rear lights cut like diamonds or the wide wheels, inherited from the version Alpinereworked and signed in their center of the sun.
The designer called on various French craftsmen to dress the interior of the R5. Stonemasons for this impressive steering wheel made from marble and carbon, weavers for the mohair rugs and trim made from horsehair, or even a gilder who created all the ornaments from of brass.
This show car is a nod to the past but focused on the future. There are many technologies such as, for example, a fingerprint reader placed on the doors, digital circular counters and an infotainment system concentrated in a smartphone. Without forgetting the motor, 100% electric.
This show car is a nod to the past but focused on the future like the circular digital counters and the smartphone as a multimedia system.
Renault has decided to enter the world of NFTs and as part of this project the diamond brand and Pierre Gonalons will also develop a collection of NFTs inspired by the Renault 5 Diamant, which will be unveiled in September. As for this Renault 5 Diamant, it will be auctioned a few weeks later. The profits will be donated to the “Give Me 5” association, dedicated to young generations through sport and music.