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2022 will be the year of the Renault 5. The brand is preparing various tributes to its historic model, which is due this year half a century of life. The culminating point will be a great concentration in the Jarama Circuit, as confirmed to this newspaper by Sébastien Guigues, general director of Renault and Alpine Iberia, during the recent ClassicMadrid show.
“The Renault 5 put an entire generation in Spain and in the world on wheels,” highlights Guigues, who highlights that his style “attracts a lot of sympathy». An icon that the brand has decided to bring back to life, with electric motorization, in a reinterpretation that will hit the market in 2024.
«When it was created it was revolutionary. The cars were very large and used up a lot of gasoline”, explains the manager, who also says that the new reinterpretation has sought to maintain the essence of the original model, eminently practical.
This year, to pay tribute to the original model, the brand will convene all the clubs, with the aim that the different acts of tribute -among which there will be “many surprises”- “have a massive turnout».
“This year the R5 will be the protagonist of our acts”, corroborates José Luis Gimeno, president of the association of friends of Renault Spain, and owner of one of the first units. The association completes a gymkhana-style activity throughout the Spanish geography.
Renault has also restored a unit, from 1983, which was shown both at the ABC Award ceremony for Best Car of the Year 2022 -since it was the first winner of the award, in 1972- and at ClassicMadrid. The works have been carried out in the heritage center of Valladolidwhich houses some sixty historic Renault models, including a 4/4 that inaugurated the FASA assembly lines and which in 2003 was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest by the Junta de Castilla y León.
Of the Renault 5, 983,118 units were assembled in the Valladolid factory, in addition to another 477,294 of the Supercinco sports variant, as explained by Pedro Rubio, head of the heritage center since 2003. «It was a new car concept, which at first had a hard time starting in Spain”, recalls Rubio, which is why it ended up evolving into the R7, with a larger trunk.
A new concept
“The difference between the Spanish and French R5s was above all the name, TS, compared to TX, but there were even some that were produced in Spain and then exported to France,” says Rubio. “Just had to change the logo and the lights”, given that in France, by law, they were yellow.
The R5 was also marketed in the Cup variant, with a black hood, remembered for its achievements in various rallies, and the luxury Baccara version, with leather seats and suit bags. In addition, the Superfive range was made up of the GT and Turbo versions.
