Why Renault Discontinued The Twingo (And When It Might Return)

The Renault Twingo has long been the very embodiment of an ideal city car. It is small, fashionable, trendy, affordable, and extremely functional. The original Twingo was introduced in 1992 as a 3-door hatchback and gained traction with consumers for being adequately spacious, enjoyable to drive, easy to park, and highly maneuverable in tight city streets. And while that also means it's equally perfect for the winding backcountry roads, going up steep hills can be tough for the Twingo's small engine — which, of course, still doesn't detract from its legitimacy as a city car.

Renault introduced the second Twingo generation in 2007 with a new styling language but retained the 3-door hatchback form. However, the third-generation model released in 2014 finally saw the French automaker shift to a 5-door hatchback body style. The Twingo sadly didn't make it to America all this time, but those who were fortunate enough to legitimately lay claim to the funky little car held it dear.

You'd think that with its popularity, the Twingo would be a permanent fixture in Renault's lineup. But in the automotive industry, nothing is ever a given. And so, Renault discontinued the Twingo following the 2024 model year. Explaining why Renault discontinued the Twingo, a company spokesperson told electrive the Twingo was phased out because it had reached the end of its current life cycle. General Safety Regulation II (GSR II) targets set out by the European Union and a shake-up of the company's current model range were also factors in Renault's decision to stop Twingo production. Previously, Renault dropped the right-hand drive Twingo version from its UK line in 2019 due to slow sales and in an effort to streamline its lineup.

[Featured image by M 93 via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 3.0 DE]

Renault confirmed back in November 2023 that it will revive the Twingo (which it referred to as "Legend" at the time) as a fully electric city car that consumes just 10 kilowatt-hours of electricity per 100 kilometers (62.1 miles) of driving. Put in another context, that's about 209 miles per gallon of gasoline-equivalent (MPGe). Since then, further confirmations have emerged of a Renault Twingo E-Tech Electric prototype that attempts to revive the monobox shape of the original Renault Twingo — opposed to the two-box shape used in later versions – which has us excited about its arrival.

The automaker affirmed in October 2024 that the all-electric Renault Twingo is due to arrive in 2026 at a base price of less than €20,000 (about $21,219.48). That affordable price tag is seen by automotive experts as a move by Renault to match affordable Chinese and European EV brands. The forthcoming Renault Twingo will be built in Europe by Renault's newly-formed EV division Ampere. 

All Twingo EVs will be underpinned by the same AmpR Small architecture found in the Renault 4 and eye-catching Renault 5 E-Tech, which also resurrects another previously discontinued icon, the Renault 5. An earlier report in Reuters suggests that the Twingo electric could be jointly developed with an unnamed Chinese brand after partnership talks with Volkswagen fell through. However, a recent report points to a possible Renault-Nissan collaboration on the 2026 Twingo.