Renault has unveiled a particularly unconventional sports model with supercar-like performance, based on the European Car of the Year 2025. The Renault 5 Turbo 3E is the French company’s recreation of the iconic R5 Turbo 2 from the 1980s for the electric age, offering a mix of cute supermini styling and an aggressive stance. Fabrice Cambolive, CEO of Renault Brand, hopes that the 5 Turbo 3E will be the first of many ‘mini-supercars’ that help to make electric models more interesting and desirable to customers.
He said: “By creating the new category of electric ‘mini-supercars’ with the Renault 5 Turbo 3E, the Renault brand once again demonstrates the passion and spirit of boldness and innovation that has always driven it. This exuberant, over-excited model promises the best performance and sensations in just 4 meters of length, which is unprecedented in the market. 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 Turbo 3E features a wide range of the same styling elements found in the latest Renault 5 E-Tech, which arrived in the UK in February 2025. This includes the flat front end that features a pair of compact, rectangular headlights and a sloping rear end.
Shadowing the Turbo 2, the high-performance Renault offers a number of supercar-like features, including dramatically widened wheel arches, the rear set featuring bulky vents.
However, a number of features have been updated for the 2020s, with the bumper now fitted with a set of LED daytime running lights and a side scoop which hides the charging port.
Designed around a specialist electric vehicle platform, the Renault 5 Turbo 3E will generate an impressive 540bhp – more than four times the amount the entry-level 5 E-Tech produces.
Despite not being the most powerful electric model on the market, the Turbo 3E’s light body means it has a very impressive weight-to-power ratio of 2.7kg/bhp and can accelerate from 0-62mph in under 3.5 seconds.
As a result, the little Renault is capable of outrunning a Porsche 911 GT3, Audi R8 V10, and Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, whilst also being able of covering a range of around 250 miles per charge.
Nevertheless, whilst Renault hopes to open the order books in the coming weeks, drivers after their 4-metre supercar will still need to wait until around 2027 before they can get behind the wheel.
The French company hope to build a limited run of 1,980 examples (representing the year in which the original Turbo 2 was introduced) by 2027.
Moreover, since the model will be handbuilt and use a considerable amount of carbon-fibre, it is expected to cost customers more than £100,000, with customised examples possibly fetching double the amount.
