The French automaker will show “some proposals” for sporty offerings over the next 12 months
Renault is weighing its options for the next wave of performance vehicles, with early proposals set to surface next year. These are expected to appear first as concepts, giving the automaker room to gauge both feasibility and market appetite before committing to production.
The update came from Fabrice Cambolive, Renault’s recently appointed CEO. Speaking to Autocar about the possibility of more accessible performance cars, he confirmed: “Yes, we are exploring some others. We will come to you with some proposals in the next 12 months.”
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Cambolive also stressed that the company must strike the right balance between development costs and consumer demand before giving any project the go-ahead, making it clear that these ideas remain in their early stages.
Shifting Identity in Performance
With the Renault Sport brand retired in favor of Alpine, the question of badging for upcoming models remains unanswered. Whatever the emblem, Renault’s future performance cars are expected to sit well below the extravagant R5 Turbo 3E, an electric hyper hatch limited to 1,980 units and priced from €155,000 (around $182,000).
A more realistic step forward would be a high-performance Megane E-Tech. The electric crossover is slated for a major update next year, including sharper styling and upgraded batteries designed to boost its appeal.
The recently introduced Clio will not receive a performance version for now. Emmanuel de Jesus Pequeno, Renault’s product line manager for the model, confirmed as much. Still, Renault is hardly absent from the small hot hatch market, with the fully electric Alpine A290, based on the R5 E-Tech, filling that role.
Expanding Into SUVs?
Judging from the competition, another option for Renault would be a performance SUV. Its current lineup includes the Captur, Arkana, Symbioz, Austral, Espace, and Rafale, as well as the fully electric R4 E-tech and Scenic E-Tech. The most potent is the Rafale E-Tech 4×4 300 hp flagship with a plug-in hybrid setup and an Atelier Alpine version that adds a sportier chassis.
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With the turbocharged 1.8-liter engine of the discontinued Megane RS and the outgoing Alpine A110 ruled out by stricter emissions standards. That leaves electrification as the only path forward. The hope now is that Renault can infuse its next generation of EVs with the same driving excitement that once defined its RS-badged icons.
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Thanos Pappas, a product design engineer by trade, has been wading through automotive journalism for… Read full bio

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