Renault considering retro-inspired eco-friendly city car

A report coming out of England indicates that Renault is considering launching a retro-inspired city car that would slot between the new third-generation Twingo and the Clio. The Paris-based automaker is in the early stages of building a prototype that will help it decide whether or not to move forward with the project.
The yet-unnamed hatchback will feature roughly the same silhouette as the first-generation Renault 5 (pictured), a small city-friendly car built from 1972 to 1985 and briefly sold as the LeCar in the United States. Stretching about 149 inches long, it will feature four doors, blacked out door pillars and short overhangs on both ends.

The retro-inspired treatment will be toned down on the inside, where the car will be fitted with high-tech equipment such as a fully digital dashboard made up of two seven-inch LCD screens located directly behind the steering wheel and a pair of massive 15.9-inch screens that will replace the rest of the dash. The infotainment system is being designed to work with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Power for the 1,830-pound car will come from an evolution of the 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine that currently powers the aforementioned Twingo. A more expensive plug-in hybrid model capable of returning up to 111 mpg in a mixed cycle could join the lineup later in the production run.

The project is still at the embryonic stage of development. If given the green light for production, Renault’s upcoming 5-inspired city car isn’t expected to land in showrooms until 2018 at the earliest.