New Renault 4 revealed: ‘60s classic reborn as small electric SUV for 2025
The 2025 Renault 4 is a squarer, SUV sister to the electric Renault 5 and it promises a more family-friendly interior...
On sale Spring 2025 | Price from £28,000 (est)
In the absence of time travel, it’s impossible to go back and witness ABBA perform in their prime. So, well aware of that fact, the famous Swedish pop group created ABBA Voyage: a futuristic concert experience that takes you back to the group’s heyday using virtual avatars – essentially, holograms. The new Renault 4 (R4) is a bit like ABBA Voyage.
The original R4 (which was on sale from 1961 to 1993) is long gone from the new car market, but 2025 sees its name return on a car that finds its inspiration in the original. This time, though, the R4 is an electric SUV.
The original’s influence is mostly seen on the outside, where the new R4’s silhouette and the distinctive shape of its rear three-quarter windows are nods to the past, as are the optional canvas roof and the rectangular shape of the front ‘grille’. Naturally, this isn’t actually a grille; being that the R4 is electric, there’s no need for air to pass through to an engine. The grille’s outline and the Renault badge within light up on some models.
Inside, much of the R4’s interior is shared with the more petite Renault 5 electric car, which is to say it has a smart, colourful design and makes use of plush materials on the dashboard, seats and armrests. This is no premium product, though; when we took a seat in the R4, we found scratchy plastics when our fingers roamed onto the lower dashboard, door panels and lower centre console.
The R4 and R5 share a 10.1in driver’s display and a 10.0in central touchscreen for infotainment. The latter incorporates Google Maps for navigation, as well as using ChatGPT (AI software) for voice recognition. It’s a more advanced evolution of the system featured in the latest Renault Captur small SUV, in which it ranks among the most intuitive infotainment systems we’ve used in recent times.
Renault is positioning the R4 as a more practical, family-focused alternative to the R5, and its rear seats are indeed more spacious, but not to a huge degree. In the R5, a six-foot tall individual will struggle for knee room when seated behind another; the R4 gives them an inch of additional leg room at the most, plus just enough head room to prevent their scalp touching the ceiling. There’s also little room for feet to be tucked under the front seats, and it’ll be tight for three adults to sit side by side.
The R4’s boot, though, is certainly more practical than the R5’s; it’s bigger by 94 litres, the opening is impressively wide and the load lip is super low as well – lower than on anything else in the small SUV class. That means loading the boot will be an easy task.
The R4 will offer the same choice of batteries as the R5; the 40kWh (usable) battery will provide an official range of 186 miles and takes 30min to charge from 15-80% at its 80kW maximum charging rate. The 52kWh (usable) battery, meanwhile, promises up to 249 miles and a 15-80% charge takes the same amount of time at its 100kW maximum rate.
While both cars are very similar mechanically, the R4 is alone in having a one-pedal driving mode, enabling you to moderate your speed by releasing the accelerator, rather than by applying the brakes. It’s expected, however, that the R5 will gain this feature later on.
The R4 trim level line-up opens with Evolution, which – with its steel wheels and hubcaps, and without the illuminated grille and badge of other trims – is the truest to the original Renault 4. Next up is Techno, which adds 18in alloy wheels and LED headlights, while range-topping Icon trim has a different style of wheel and sportier interior trim. Techno and Icon trims unlock the option of two-tone paint and the canvas roof mentioned earlier.
Pricing is yet to be confirmed, but we expect the R4 to cost around £28,000 when it goes on sale in 2025. That figure would place it squarely between the R5 and larger Renault Megane, while undercutting the Jeep Avenger Electric and Volvo EX30.
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