How to make a car in two years

Renault has developed the Twingo in just 100 weeks - half the time it took to do the Clio. JAMES ATTWOOD explains how

- JAMES ATTWOOD

You would never guess from its cutesy, frog-eyed face, but the Twingo EV due next year will be the fastest Renault ever made. Yes, faster than a Clio V6, M égane RS Trophy R and even that old 1990s Espace they shoehorned a Formula 1 V10 into.

Okay, we're talking development speed here: the £17,000 city car will be Renault's first model developed in less than two years - 100 weeks to be precise, half the time it took to develop a car just a few years ago. That won't ruffle the Autocar road test timing gear much but it’s very significant in Renault's bid to match Chinese rivals and remain competitive in the new era.

It’s the culmination of a major push to reduce development times. The Renault 5 and 4, which are underpinned by the Ampr Small EV platform, were each developed in three years. The Twingo will be the next step. It benefits from using the same platform and sharing many parts with those cars. Renault is also trying to leverage its pace as a relatively small manufacturer compared with some European rivals. But the real time savings come from reducing planning, design, development and industrialisation schedules.

Combemorel cites battery production as an example. “Two years ago, you have a gigafactory and you select lithium [NMC] chemistry for your batteries. You are the king of the world,” he says. “Now, the market is asking why you don’t have LFP. Going fast is a way to allow the company to make decisions at the last minute. Imagine you could design a car in one day. You'd know what the trend and the market is and be able to define the volume. There is a virtual loop around speed.”

Of course, Combemorel isn’t suggesting a one-day development cycle any time soon: two years is ambitious enough. And the key to achieving that target, he says, is through new technology.