Renault, Ford, Honda look to the past for EV inspiration

Electrification may be the powertrain of the future, but a number of new and coming electric vehicles are looking to the past for design cues. 
 
The latest reveal is the Renault 5, a small electric car that the brand hopes will build enthusiasm under new CEO Luca de Meo. The original 5 – and its face-lifted successor, the Super 5 – was itself a breath of modernity when it appeared in late 1972 as a replacement for the sturdy Renault 4. More than 8 million  were sold when production ended in the mid-1990s. 
 
The Renault 5 EV is due around 2023, at an "affordable" price, said de Meo, who reportedly initiated the project last year as he reviewed the automaker’s future products after his arrival on July 1. It could be followed by an electric Renault 4, which could take the shape of a small crossover or SUV, according to reports.  

"I know by experience that when you are able to reinvent some cult products of the brand, it lights a fire under the whole brand," he said. "This is what we expect with the new Renault 5. It's a pure electric vehicle, but at the price that many, many people will be able to afford." 

De Meo was CEO at the Fiat brand when it revived the 500 in 2007. The 500's reboot was part of wave of retro-styled vehicles that arrived in the 2000s that included the new Mini and new VW Beetle. 

Several other automakers have already tapped into nostalgia for their new EVs. The Honda e recalls the Civic, the car that proved Honda could branch out from motorcycles and be a major player in the U.S.; and the Fiat New 500 is a slightly larger and face-lifted continuation of the revived 500. Ford has turned to the Mustang name for a new electric SUV, even if it bears no resemblance to the famous sports coupe itself. 
 
Of course, plenty of automakers have eschewed the vintage look as they go electric. VW’s ID3 makes no reference to the Beetle, Tesla has opted for its own sleek styling language, and coming high-end EV offerings from Mercedes-Benz and BMW update those brands’ current internal combustion models for an electric future.  
 
But if the goal is mass market acceptance of EVs – which will drive down costs through scale and encourage infrastructure development – then evoking brands’ best loved historical models is not a bad strategy. Millions of French people recall learning to drive or taking family vacations in the original R5; the Fiat 500 evokes "la dolce vita" of Fellini films for Italians (and those who love Italy); and the Honda Civic is a symbol of Japan’s industrial rebirth after World War II. 

One of the fears about EVs is that they would turn into low-margin commodities – mobility capsules that were all the same under the skin and that would drain all the romance from driving and car ownership.  
 
“There's a real risk that when EVs become a kind of blobby commodity, it will be really hard (for automakers) to get a premium for them," said Pete Wells, director of the Center for Automotive Industry Research at the University of Cardiff in Wales. 
 
But that doesn’t appear to be the case, Wells said.  
 
"The industry has always sought differentiation as a way to escape the commodity trap," he said. "It's always been a risk in going electric that you fall into that -- It's much harder to say you're different when you're really the same."  
 
In fact, he said, the flexibility and scalability of EV powertrains and platforms could increase diversity and reverse a trend toward focused, smaller lineups.  
 
"We might actually see an increase in diversity," Wells said. "EV powertrains are really scalable," he said, citing VW Group’s MEB platform that it is offering to other automakers. 
 
"You could build on top of (MEB) a range of different vehicle configurations," he said. "It's almost like the early years of coachbuilding."