Renault adds a second EV platform for smaller cars

PARIS -- Renault's future full-electric small cars will use a modified version of the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s CMF-B platform, including the reborn Renault 5 and a new model to come from high-performance brand Alpine, CEO Luca de Meo said. 

The news about the architecture – which Renault calls CMF-B EV -- answers one question about the group’s future products.

Renault announced several years ago that compact and midsize EVs would be built on a platform called CMF-EV, which was developed with alliance partner Nissan. The first two compact models on that platform, the Nissan Ariya and a production version of the Renault Megane eVision concept, will appear before 2022.

But it was unclear what would underpin the successor to the current Zoe small EV, which has been in Renault’s lineup since late 2012, and other small electric cars.

De Meo said last week in announcing the “Renaulution” turnaround plan that all small cars launched by 2025 would be “100 percent electric” -- presumably on the CMF-B EV architecture.
 
“We will derive an electric version (for small cars) from the CMF platform in order to have a complete offer,” Renault engineering chief Giles le Borgne said during the presentation of the plan.

Le Borgne said it was an alliance platform. He did not give any other details, although an image of the platform shows reduced front and rear overhangs and a flat battery floor to optimize interior space.

The CMF-B EV platform is crucial to the Renault brand because its two best-selling models – the Clio and Captur – are in the small-car segment, also called the B-segment. Sales of vehicle's in the segment account for two-thirds Renault's sales by volume.

De Meo described Renault’s future model plan as “reconquering the C segment while defending B segment leadership.” 

To defend that leadership, Renault will need small electric models, because tightening European emission regulations add compliance costs on internal combustion engines that erode already-slim profit margins on small cars.

The Clio and Captur have been hybridized with Renault’s E-Tech system, but Renault had been quiet about a successor to the Zoe, which was Europe’s best-selling EV in 2020 and has been receiving regular motor and battery updates, as well as a facelift in 2019 that focused largely on the interior. 

Renault’s main European competitors in the small car segments, VW Group and Stellantis, have taken diverging strategies on electrification. VW Group’s future small EVs, for example the VW ID2, will be on the group’s MEB electric-only architecture, while Stellantis has just launched small electric cars and SUVs from Peugeot and Opel/Vauxhall on the CMP platform, which was designed for both internal combustion and battery electric drivetrains.

De Meo’s product plan shows two Renault brand small EVs, one due in 2023, the retro-styled Renault 5, and another in 2025, possibly a crossover or SUV that could inspired by the old Renault 4. No details were given about a small Alpine EV.

The Renault 5 will be built at the group’s factory in Douai, northern France, Chairman Jean-Dominique said this week on the French news channel BFM-TV.

By 2025, about 3 million alliance vehicles would be built annually on the CMF-B and CMF-B EV platforms. 

CMF-B, which stands for Common Modular Family, is itself a relatively new platform. The first models from Renault appeared in 2019, including the Clio V small car and second-generation Captur small SUV. Nissan’s first CMF-B model is the second-generation Nissan Juke small SUV. They were followed last year by the new generation Dacia Sandero and Logan.

Another model, if it appears, that is likely to use the CMF architecture is the next generation Nissan Micra. Under the alliance’s new alignment, announced last spring, Renault will take the lead in developing small cars for Europe. The Micra is built by Renault in Flins, France, but that factory is scheduled to be converted to recycling and other environmentally friendly operations. 

Nissan’s own turnaround plan, Nissan Next, does not mention a future Micra or indeed any small cars for Europe.