The group will tap its Horse powertrain joint venture with Geely for the REx drivetrain. Horse last year revealed a compact range extender which packages a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine, generator and inverter into the space of a briefcase. Developing 94bhp or 161bhp with a turbocharger and meeting upcoming Euro 7 emissions standards, Horse says the powertrain can be used to hybridise existing EVs, integrating with a vehicle’s existing electric motors. 

Efficient new motor to spin the wheels 

Renault is working on a new electric motor with 266bhp – a circa 25 per cent power bump over the 215bhp maximum in today’s Scenic. It can be deployed on the front or rear axles, and potentially paired together for all-wheel drive. 

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The group will introduce the third-generation of its Electrically Excited Synchronous Motor with copper wiring, a design known for its efficiency and devoid of rare-Earth materials. Renault says the new motor is targeting 93 per cent motorway efficiency. 

The new tech package will drive down costs: Renault claims the new motor will be 20 per cent cheaper, while the RGEV Medium 2.0 is 40 per cent more cost efficient than today’s EV underpinnings. 

The new cars utilising this technology will be Software Defined Vehicles (SDV), Renault’s first passenger cars with this capability. The 2026 Trafic van will introduce the Renault SDV concept, with superfast core computing systems delivering stepchanges in the user experience, over-the-air upgrades and connected features, plus advanced safety and driver-assistance systems. 

New upgrades for next Renault Captur and Austral

Renault CEO Francois Provost has told Auto Express that he will continue to invest in the RGMP small platform (standing for modular platform B- and C-segments), which underpins petrol/electric cars such as the Clio, Captur, Symbioz and Austral. These models will benefit from a new hybrid engine with less power than the 158bhp Clio hybrid, arriving in the UK in early 2027. 

These smaller cars are not tipped to be SDVs, continuing with their ‘domain control’ electronic architectures with segmented systems for cockpit features, driver assistance and so on, rather than them being united by a sophisticated SDV central nervous system.  

Renault plans to launch 22 cars in Europe in the next five years, with 16 of them being pure EV. And by 2030, Renault plans to phase out solely combustion engines in Europe, although hybrid engines will continue into the 2030s. 

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