Renault makes its hit 5 E-Tech go further and cost less to get into
Europe's favourite small electric car did not need fixing, so Renault sharpened it instead.
Renault has updated its Renault 5 E-Tech Electric for the 2026 model year, adding a new lower-cost entry model, squeezing more range out of the existing versions and refreshing the technology inside. Belgian pricing starts at €28,100 and orders opened on 28 August, with the rest of the changes arriving over the coming weeks. This is not a redesign, it is a car already selling well being made harder to argue with.
A new, cheaper way in
The headline addition is a new entry trim called Five. It uses a 36.5 kWh LFP battery built with cell-to-pack technology, an 80 kW motor good for 110 hp, and offers up to 305 km of WLTP range. It will cover 0 to 50 km/h in 3.5 seconds, which is all the urgency a city car needs, and comes with 80 kW DC rapid charging as standard alongside 6.6 kW AC. It gives the range a genuinely affordable starting point without stripping the car back to feeling basic.
More range across the board
The familiar versions go further than before. The Urban Range, with its 40 kWh battery and 90 kW (120 hp) motor, now covers up to 315 km, while the Comfort Range, pairing a 52 kWh battery with a 110 kW (150 hp) motor, climbs to 430 km, up from 410. Renault has found the extra kilometres through aerodynamic tweaks to the underbody and mirrors and through optimised battery electronics, rather than a bigger, heavier pack. In Belgium the Urban Range starts at €28,100 and the Comfort Range at €31,100, the latter offered in Evolution, Techno, Iconic Cinq and Roland-Garros trims.
A smarter cabin
Most of the meaningful change is inside. A new Smart driving mode automatically shuffles between Eco, Comfort and Sport based on how the car is being driven, and the physical Multi-Sense button has left the steering wheel as a result. There is a new Qi2 magnetic wireless charger that is ventilated to stop phones overheating and can reach a 50 percent charge in an hour, an upgraded 4G-capable emergency call system, and, notably, Google's assistant is being replaced by Google's Gemini AI, delivered over the air. Buyers financing through Mobilize get 2 GB of data a month included for three years.
New colours, same character
The cosmetic updates are lighter but welcome. Two new paints arrive, Flame Red and Schiste Grey, along with fresh roof and trim options, a gold tint for the Techno wheels, and new Vibrant5 and Hyper5 decals. The Iconic trim swaps its heathered yellow upholstery for a heathered blue. None of it changes the car, but the Renault 5 has always traded on personality, and keeping the palette fresh matters more here than on most rivals.
Why it matters
This is a car defending a lead, not chasing one. The Renault 5 E-Tech has already become one of Europe's best-selling electric cars, passing 100,000 built inside its first fifteen months, and it did it by being affordable, likeable and locally built. Adding a cheaper entry model and more range is exactly how you keep that momentum, particularly with fast, keenly priced Chinese electric cars pushing into the same space.
AutoNext Take
The clever part of this update is where Renault spent its effort. It would have been easy to chase a bigger headline range number with a heavier battery. Instead the gains come from aerodynamics and electronics, the car gets lighter-touch improvements where they actually help, and the real news is a cheaper way into the range and a smarter cabin. That is a company that understands why people buy this car.
The Renault 5 was never about maximum range or outright pace. It is about making an electric car people genuinely want at a price they can reach, and every change here pushes in that direction. Swapping Google Assistant for Gemini and adding an auto drive mode will grab attention, but the 36.5 kWh Five is the update that matters, because it lowers the barrier to the most charming affordable EV Europe currently makes. Renault did not need to move much. It moved in the right places.
