Renault will reveal a production-ready economy electric compact model, the City K-ZE, at the Shanghai motor show. The global “SUV-inspired” model will be first launched in China and offer 155 miles of range on the outgoing NEDC cycle.
UPDATED: Renault City K-ZE: production version of budget EV revealed
The car maker revealed a concept version of the City K-ZE on the eve of last year's Paris motor show.
Renault has chosen Shanghai to reveal the new model because China is the fastest-growing global market for EVs. A successful launch will determine the viability of a subsequent European variant.
At the reveal of the concept, then-chairman and CEO of Renault Carlos Ghosn also confirmed that a hybrid Renault Clio and plug-in hybrid Renault Captur and Mégane variants would arrive in Europe in 2020, but gave no details on range. Ghosn added that Renault had been investing in EVs for over a decade, and that it was the only firm to make profit from EVs so far.
The vehicles form the next stage in Renault’s electrification strategy.
Called Drive the Future, it said that by 2022, Renault will have eight EVs and 12 electrified (plug-in or mild-hybrid) vehicles. The City K-Ze follows Renault’s five existing EVs: the Twizy, Zoe, Kangoo ZE, Master ZE and the Korea-only RSM SM3 ZE. While Renault’s electric Zoe supermini remains at the forefront of electric car sales – beaten by only the Nissan Leaf for sales globally – the French car maker has been slow to reveal new electric cars, instead expanding its zero-emission van range.
The Twingo-sized City K-ZE, which will sit below the Zoe in dimensions and cost, will arrive in China first because it is the fastest-growing market for electric cars, said Renault. The final car is expected to stay very close to the concept version in terms of design.
"Developed markets or developing market can get this car. For me, this is a real revolution. This is car is going to be extremely competitive on all markets in the world," Ghosn said.
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I like the soft fade between
I like the soft fade between the two-tone blue and white.
I wonder if that's just for show, or reveals painting technology that will make production.
The car looks great, the
The car looks great, the range is crap. It needs a small ICE as well.
French EV?
French EV?
Sounds like an invite for getting stranded.
Tycoon wrote:
You didn't even need to write French to make that true. I bought my iPod Touch about four years ago, and it would play music on shuffle with the screen off (apart from the odd occasion I'd look at the time or check was the song was) for about 21 or 22 hours. By the time I gave up on it earlier this year I was lucky if it lasted beyond two hours. The laptop I bought a few months before was supposed to run for "up to 8.5 hours" but never lasted more them 4.5, and now ninety minutes is beyond it. Similar stories with shavers, headphones, torches... Even the rechargable batteries I put in clocks and remotes. Everything I ever owned which was rechargable didn't last as long as was claimed (that iPod Touch was probably an honourable exception to that, at the outset), soon began to get worse, and ended up much worse or as good as unusable.
I don't fancy the idea of getting stranded at night miles from anywhere on a deserted Highlands road, especially in winter, but I'd fancy even less the prospect of being stranded at anytime in a city roamed by moped gangs and worse.
As has been described above by other posters, electric cars are useless for the mass of the people and they won't be conned into buying them. Electric cars are going nowhere.