Iconic 1980s Renault 5 Turbo to return as an electric ‘beast’ in 2027

One of the numerous complaints drivers have about electric vehicles is they’re boring and all a bit samey.

But nobody’s told Renault, which plans to sell an EV ‘beast’ with jaw-dropping performance as it prepares the return on an eighties icon. 

The French car giant has confirmed the Renault 5 Turbo will return in 2027 as the 5 Turbo 3E ‘mini supercar’.

Each will be hand built, predominantly carbon fibre, outrageously fast and likely cost a stellar six-figure sum – if you can get your hands on one.

In its tribute to its 1980s Group B rally legend, just 1,980 will be produced in a tasteful nod to its predecessor. 

And Renault says it will be road legal, making this one of the most extreme EVs you can buy with number plates and indicators.

Renault 5 Turbo is back as an electric ‘beast’: French car maker confirms its iconic 1980s hot hatch will return as a high-performance road-legal model delivered in 2027

The huge wheel arches, boxy features and compact dimensions strike a strong likeness to the 1980s Renault 5 Turbo rally cars used in the 1980s (left)

Renault hasn’t pulled any punches in its efforts to reincarnate its most famous hot hatch.

‘A beast of a car built for rallying, drift and track performance, adapted for the road,’ is how the French firm has dubbed it.

Fabrice Cambolive, CEO Renault brand, says it’s so extreme that it will dawn a new era of ‘mini-supercars’ – a segment few people expected to see during the transition to green electric vehicles over the next decade.

‘This exuberant, over-excited model promises the best performance and sensations in just four meters of length, which is unprecedented in the market,’ Cambolive said. 

‘With this car, Renault continues to make electric vehicles ever more desirable, further extending its ability to provide solutions for every need and every desire.’

The French car giant has confirmed the Renault 5 Turbo will return in 2027 as the 5 Turbo 3E ‘mini supercar’

The Renault 5 Turbo – or ‘R5’ – is one of the adored cars of the fearsome Group B generation, alongside the likes of the Audi Quattro, Lancia 037 and Delta S4, Peugeot 205 T16, Metro 6R4 and Ford RS200

In its tribute to its 1980s Group B rally legend, just 1,980 will be produced in a tasteful nod to its predecessor

Renault hasn’t pulled any punches in its efforts to reincarnate its most famous hot hatch. The new 5 Turbo 3E is described as: ‘A beast of a car built for rallying, drift and track performance, adapted for the road’

The standard Renault 5 E-Tech (pictured) has just started to arrive in the UK priced from £22,995. The 5 Turbo 3E will share very little with it, as the bonkers hot hatch will be hand-crafted in limited number and cost around five times as much

While it might look like the new £22,995 Renault 5 E-Tech supermini on steroids, the Turbo 3E will borrow barely any parts from it – and likely to cost at least five times as much.

It has a unique platform sharing very little with the standard electric supermini. 

Every bodywork panel is new and so is the drivetrain, which includes a pair of in-wheel e-motors that send almost instant power to the rear wheels.

In terms of performance, it will undoubtedly be the fastest pocket-sized EV out there.

Boasting a claimed 536bhp, the French brand reckons it will accelerate from zero to 62mph in less than 3.5 seconds – zero to 120mph in under 9 – and have an electronically limited top speed of 168mph that can only be unlocked on track.

For overtaking, a button on the steering wheel provides a power boost. 

The Renault 5 Turbo is still considered a rally icon. Here, French driver Paul Chieusse and his co-driver Fabienne Brunet de Bainne are seen competing in the Legend Boucles a Bastogne in Belgium in February 2016

Unlike the front-engined standard Renault 5 in the 1980s, the original 5 Turbo had a fire-spitting 1.4-litre petrol engine mounted behind the front seats

The revolutionary in-wheel motors are claimed to provide ‘even more immediate power than with a conventional electric motor’, which is a far stretch from the ‘turbo lag’ [the delay between pressing the accelerator a noticeable power boost due to the time taken for a turbocharger to spin up and generate sufficient boost pressure] owners of the original 5 Turbo experienced some 45 years ago.

These e-motors are independent, meaning more power can be sent to one or the other depending on grip levels, steering angle and the desire to skid sideways.

But they also provide a weight and packaging-saving benefit over conventional e-motors as well as negating the need for a differential to divide power between each wheel.

Power is drawn from a 70kWh battery pack – which is almost double that of the unit supplied for the standard 5 E-Tech (40kWh or 52kWh battery and up to 150bhp) – and is fitted into the floor in a way that will deliver ‘breathtaking performance and spectacular drift capabilities’.

The latter is enhanced by a dedicated ‘drift-assist’ function and rally-style vertical handbrake, allowing owners to hone their skidding skills.

In terms of performance, the Renault 5 Turbo 3E will undoubtedly be the fastest pocket-sized EV out there

Boasting a claimed 536bhp, the French brand says it will accelerate from 0-62mph in less than 3.5secs – 0-120mph in under 9 – and have an electronically limited top speed of 168mph

For overtaking, a button on the steering wheel provides an injection of power

Range quotes it will be able to cover over 400km – so in excess of 250 miles – on a single charge. It will also feature an adaptive regenerative braking system with four settings, so drivers can tailor how much energy from the 5 Turbo 3E’s deceleration can be fed back into the battery’s charge depending on how aggressive they want it to slow down.

With an 800-volt architecture and DC fast charging at speeds up to 350kW, the battery can be replenished from 15 to 80 per cent in just a quarter of an hour.

However, if you take it out on track, it will empty the battery just as fast; Renault bods admit it will run flat after 15 to 20 minutes of being driven flat-out around a circuit.

Its lighter drivetrain combined with a carbon composite structure means it has a kerb weight of around just 1,450kg. This means it will be on par with the standard Renault 5 E-Tech despite its larger battery pack, extra performance and additional motor. 

It does also shed a few pounds by deleting the rear seats and the possibility to transport passenger in the back. In the rear bench’s place is a racing-style roll-cage skeleton. 

A pair of screens – a 10.1-inch instrument cluster and 10.25-inch infotainment display – are both lifted from the 5 E-Tech, though the dials in the Turbo 3E will be 1980s retro inspired, as is the tartan-finished dashboard

Driver and passenger will have different coloured bucket seats with six-point harnesses instead of conventional seatbelts. This image also shows the rally-inspired vertical handbrake

You won’t be able to transport all your mates: Renault has deleted the rear bench for passengers and placed it with a racing-style roll-cage skeleton

Images of the cabin show a reflection of the 5 Turbo 3E’s exterior. 

Driver and passenger will have different coloured bucket seats with six-point harnesses instead of conventional seatbelts, there’s hand-woven tartan on the dashboard and smatterings of carbon fibre all round.

A pair of screens – a 10.1-inch instrument cluster and 10.25-inch infotainment display – are both lifted from the 5 E-Tech, though the dials in the Turbo 3E will be 1980s retro inspired.

Customers will also be able to choose from an endless option of paints or a selection of famous retro racing liveries from Renault’s celebrated rallying past.

While the French brand stating it will arrive with its 1,980 customers from 2027, it has still yet to rubberstamp a price tag. 

However, given its extreme performance, hand-built construction and bespoke features, we expect it to command a price from around the £200,000 mark.

Why does the Group B rally era have legendary status?  

Group B was a set of regulations for introduced in 1982 for rallying that fostered some of the fastest, most powerful, sophisticated and ferociously fast competition cars ever built.

The class was fiercely contested, with the Audi Quattro, Lancia O37 and Peugeot 205 T16 winning the WRC titles during the Group B era. 

While it didn’t win any championships, the Renault 5 Turbo did take victory in four races in total: the Monte-Carlo Rally in 1981, the French Tour de Corse in 1982 and 1985 and the Portuguese rally in 1986. 

The Renault 5 Turbo failed to win a Group B title, but did rack up four race wins between 1981 and 1986

Group B is commonly referred to as the golden era of rallying, when fans would flock in their thousands to events, sitting as close to the action as possible and often spilling onto the stages themselves. 

The combination of extreme power and crowds forming in the road or track ultimately resulted in a series of major accidents, some of them fatal. 

And after the death of three-time race winner Henri Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto in the 1986 Tour de Corse, the FIA disestablished the class.

The incredible sights and sounds from that early-80s era of rallying – despite being relatively short-lived – has acquired legendary status among motorsport fans and petrolheads in general.