Renault 4Ever Trophy: concrete harbinger of electric Renault 4

The bullet is through the church: in addition to an electric Renault 5, there will also be a retro version of the even more iconic Renault 4. That idea already emerged at the beginning of 2021 and was then fed by, among other things, patent sketches. Last year, Renault also hinted at a return of the 4 with the Suite N°4 and the Air4, crazy concept cars with the classic Renault 4 as a basis or inspiration. Now, however, Renault is getting more serious, because the 4Ever Trophy is a very concrete preview of the production-4. The French also say outright that the new Renault 4 will appear in 2025. It is then in fact the SUV brother of the new Renault 5, which will be presented in final form in 2024. Both cars are on the same platform (CMFB-EV) and they are about the same size, although the 4 as an SUV is higher and more spacious. Renault puts it this way: as the Captur compares to a Clio, so will the 4 relate to the 5.

less cute

Both EVs are probably slightly smaller than the aforementioned examples, because with a length of more than 4 meters, the 4Ever Trophy is clearly shorter than a Captur. The fact that the newcomer will be an SUV partly explains why Renault gives it a rough Trophy outfit as a concept car. It also means that the 4 will inevitably be considerably larger and less cute than the original, although that car was also quite high on its legs and its square coach lends itself well to some cool finery. There is actually a Renault 4L (French name) Trophy, a charity rally that has been held since the 1990s.

Illuminated logo

You don’t have to search long for references to the classic Renault 4 at the 4Ever Trophy. For example, the car has a similar combination of headlights and ‘grille’, although here it is not really a grille. The black panel on the concept car is an opening that sends the wind via the shortest route to the bottom of the windscreen, so that a kind of spoiler is created. With the production car, it will remain with a black, closed panel. In addition to two round-like LED viewers, that panel also contains an illuminated Renault logo. That is not reserved for the concept car, because the production 4 will be the first Renault to put such an illuminated logo into practice. The ban on this, which still applies in the EU, should be lifted by then.

The lighting at the rear also attracts attention. At first glance, the vertical light units may be somewhat (or considerably) reminiscent of those of Mini, but are split into three ‘layers’. Exactly: just like the original 4 also had three ‘stacked’ segments per taillight.

kinkless

From the side, the trapezoidal side window behind the rear door is particularly striking, a typical 4-characteristic. It is even illuminated on the concept car, to further emphasize this point. The rear door cut from top to bottom in one slash will also immediately recognize 4 enthusiasts. The rear, on the concept car still without a tailgate, is also virtually ‘knockless’. The cutout of the front door is also special, because it runs from the bottom of the windscreen to the front wheel arch. The oblique line that is created in this way is typically ‘4’ and thus returns to the production model, although it will not actually be the dividing line between door and front screen.

On the original 4, the hood at the front extends all the way to the low front bumper. This is not the case on the study model, but that impression is created by a set of extra body seams between the front panel and side screens.

42 kWh

Nothing is known about the exact drive of the new Renault 4, although Renault proposes a fairly realistic solution for the 4Ever Trophy. According to the French, the car has a battery of 42 kWh, just a little more than what the basic version of the Mégane E-Tech Electric has. The electric motor on the front axle helps the 4Ever to 100 kW, which produces the well-known 136 hp. It could just be that a similar powertrain will actually be available in the Renault 4, probably in addition to a version with a larger battery. We’ll see, later in 2025.