Paris motor show enjoys strong interest in electric vehicles despite buyer reluctance – The Irish Times

It may not be as pretty as its newly launched all-electric companion the Renault 5, but the reborn all-electric version of the classic Renault 4 certainly looks good enough to reignite the flame of one of Renault’s best-selling cars ever and is definitely the star of this year’s Paris Motor Show. The original 4 found over eight million homes over its long production run. Can the new electric 4 E-Tech do it again?

That probably won’t happen, but it probably doesn’t have to – the biggest challenge for the 4 E-Tech will be to revive European car buyers’ interest in electric cars, something senior executives at Renault and its big competitors in the Stellantis Group (home to both Peugeot and Citroën) have dreamed of , not to mention countless others), predicted that they might be at a tipping point.

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Thierry Koskas, head of the Citroën brand, said: “We may be approaching a tipping point in demand for electric vehicles.”

This tipping point appears to be approaching thanks to price cuts for new electric vehicle models. Citroën, presenting a concept version of the new C5 Aircross SUV, which will go on sale next year at a price of around 45,000 euros, more importantly, will soon launch the all-electric compact electric hatchback e-C3, having had long delays in the preparation of the software car for production. The starting price for the e-C3 should be close to €23,000, and Citroën is planning an even more affordable version.

You won’t be alone in the world of cheap electric vehicles. At the exhibition in Paris, Renault presented not only the new 4 E-Tech. Also on display was a concept version of the new Twingo electric city car, shown to journalists earlier this year but making its public debut in Paris. Renault expects the price of the Twingo, which will go on sale in 2026, to be just under €20,000, but unfortunately production of the right-hand drive version has not yet been confirmed. The super-cute original Twingo from 1991 was never produced for the Irish or British markets. Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself.

The Renault 4 E-Tech won’t be as cheap, but it should be in a similar €35,000 price range, alongside the Jeep Avenger and Kia EV3. The retro styling isn’t as endearingly pretty as the facelifted Renault 5 E-Tech, but it’s still quite a handsome update to a classic 1960s style, and is rather more enticing than the forgettable Captur crossover that the 4 E-Tech will sell alongside. Indeed, that may be Renault’s big contribution to making electric cars more attractive to European buyers – making them look nicer.

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It may be pretty, but just like its creator, the new 4 E-Tech will be practical. The boot has an impressive capacity of 420 liters and the front passenger seat can be folded flat, allowing you to load boxes up to 2.2 m long.

Various battery capacities will be available, providing a range of 300 to 400 km, and the all-digital dashboard will feature Google-based software. Unfortunately, the classic push-pull-twist gear lever located right in the middle of the dashboard has not been recreated, but you can’t have everything. We hope that Renault Ireland will offer a special edition with the classic orange and white colors of the P&T van.

Away from the Renault stand, the Paris show seemed healthier and more vibrant than in recent years. Motor shows in general have taken a hit amid online reveals and Covid, but could the presence of a larger manufacturer in Paris herald the return of a classic mega event?

There were certainly plenty of metal novelties on sale, ranging from relatively simple ones (the appearance of a hybrid version of the new Alfa Romeo Junior crossover, to the elegant Sportback version of the Audi Q6 e-tron electric SUV Audi Q6 e-tron with a range of 656 km, to high – high-performance versions of John Cooper Works’ electric Mini hatchback and Mini Aceman crossover) to the more outlandish.

Quirky marks a return to the Renault stand, where the French giant showed off the Emblème concept car – a low-slung crossover offering more than just battery power. Emblème is not just a show pony, but Renault’s quest to reduce a car’s emissions by 90 percent – not just while driving or even while charging, but generally, from cradle to grave. Renault says the Emblème’s total lifetime CO2 emissions will be just five tonnes of CO2 compared to 24 tonnes for the Megane E-Tech electric hatchback.

The Emblème has an electric motor (the 220 HP one from the Scenic E-Tech) and a battery (the 40 kWh one from the entry-level Megane E-Tech), giving it a range of, according to Renault, “several hundred kilometers.”

What about longer trips? Well, that’s where hydrogen comes in. Renault, although something of a pioneer in the field of modern electric cars, has never completely abandoned hydrogen and, given the current weakening of public interest – at least in some markets, notably Ireland and Germany – in electric vehicles. cars, the French carmaker could be grateful for this hedging.

Renault actually already has a production hydrogen vehicle on sale – a version of the new Master van – but Emblème uses a 30 kW hydrogen fuel cell as a means of extending long-distance range. Fill it with 2.8kg of hydrogen and Emblème can travel 350km before needing to refuel, which takes just five minutes.

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Renault therefore claims that the Emblème can travel from Paris to Marseille in the same time as a regular combustion car, stopping twice along the way to replenish its hydrogen supplies. Because hydrogen combines with oxygen from the outside air in the fuel cell to create electricity, Emblème’s only emissions are water vapor.

Others have begun to sense a possible return to the potential of hydrogen energy – BMW and Hyundai among them – so Emblème may yet prove to be a significant concept.

Renault-affiliated Alpine has unveiled the A390-Beta, a concept version of its sleek, three-engine electric crossover that will go on sale next year and promises to deliver a truly exciting driving experience.

Peugeot has introduced a new fully electric version of its sleek 408 SUV with a range of 425 km, as well as versions of the new E-3008 and E5008 with larger batteries, giving the electric SUVs a range of up to 700 km on a single charge.

Dacia has brought with it the elegant-looking Bigster, which is currently in full production form and will go on sale in early 2025 as a brand competitor to the likes of Hyundai Tucson and Toyota RAV4. Considering Dacia’s recent successes, it’s hard not to notice that this handsome SUV has become a huge hit. During the show, Dacia boss Denis Le Vot also hinted at other other cars that will soon appear in the same size as the Bigster, including a possible practical family estate that could compete with the Skoda Octavia Combi.

In addition to the C5 Aircross concept, Citroën has also brought the updated C4 and e-C4 hatchbacks, and a facelift of the little Ami four-wheeler (although it has only now gone on sale in Ireland for €9,990) that aims to make it look even bigger.

Ominously for European brands, Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD was at the show showing off the Sealion 7 electric SUV that we saw in Beijing earlier this year. Tesla Model Y’s sleek rival, the Sealion 7, will arrive in Ireland in early 2025.

BYD is also entering Europe and will soon open factories in Hungary and Turkey, neatly sidestepping new European tariffs on Chinese electric cars, with first production scheduled for late 2025. BYD – the most successful of the newly arrived Chinese brands in Ireland – has not flinched, as for the new customs duties, which were initially charged at 17.4%. on BYD products, later slightly reduced to 17 percent. BYD has not raised prices so far, which, according to The Irish Times, is because it can draw on supplies that have already landed in Europe.

Speaking in Paris, BYD Executive Vice President Stella Li said: “As the world’s leading new energy technology company, over the past 30 years we have always believed in leveraging innovation to make technology accessible. Innovation is in our DNA and we have the largest research and development team in the world, with over 102,000 engineers and 11 research institutes around the world. As we progress, we set new records; last month we announced that our nine millionth solar-powered vehicle had rolled off the production line. It took 13 years to go from zero to a million. But it only took us six months to go from seven million to nine million. This is a statistic that will chill the blood of corporations on the boards of European car manufacturers.

Indeed, Stellantis Group was announcing some big corporate changes at the Paris Motor Show, on the heels of announcing that its totemic CEO, Carlos Tavares, would not renew his contract beyond its 2026 expiration. Tavares has been effectively ousted in a coup orchestrated by European and American Stellantis dealers who are angry at declining sales and apparently mishandled electric vehicle policies.

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Meanwhile, in Paris, the head of Renault Luca De Meo – an outspoken critic of additional EU tariffs on Chinese electric cars – pointed out that European and Chinese car manufacturers must find a better, more sustainable way to coexist and compete, among others. because it is from China that so many other car manufacturers source components, batteries and even entire vehicles.

Classic European styling in the shape of the Renault 4 E-Tech may have been the star of the Paris Motor Show, but the main story was China.