- Renault has announced a partnership with an unnamed Chinese firm to develop cheaper electric vehicles.
- This includes the future all-electric Twingo, which is set to go on sale with a price below the €20,000 (£17,000 / $21,700) mark.
- The partnership is set to reduce development costs and lead times, helping the manufacturer hit that budget price point, and allowing the Twingo to be developed within the next two years.
Renault joins growing number of European OEMs with Chinese partners
As originally reported by Reuters, Renault now plans to link up with a Chinese partner for the development of cheap EVs, including the upcoming Twingo EV. Whilst styling, most engineering, and production will remain within Europe for this model, it seems Renault is hoping it can learn a thing or two from China’s EV expertise, particularly when it comes to development times and cost. The news comes just days after the firm scrapped a partnership with Volkswagen to co-develop budget EVs, with Volkswagen announcing the arrival of its own €20k electric cars soon after. Despite this, Renault states that the decision to partner with this Chinese firm was taken separately to the recent fallthrough with Volkswagen.
Renault isn’t the first OEM to partner with a Chinese EV firm. Volkswagen recently signed an agreement with XPENG for rapid co-development of VW-branded EVs destined specifically for China, whilst Audi and SAIC also have a similar partnership in place.
