Renault Twin'Z Concept by Ross Lovegrove Imagines a City Car for Milan

RenaultRenaultFrance, 1898 > present189 models
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has teamed up with industrial designer Ross Lovegrove to design its Twin’Z concept for the Milan Triennale from April 9 to 14.

Renault’s design team did the penned the shape of the car, while Lovegrove added the bumpers, lights, grilles, the LED roof, wheels. He also styled the interior.

The front bares a striking resemblance to the TwingoRenault Twingo Gen.3 [III]France, 2014 > present15 versions
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with dual round, small headlights. The rear shows the 5Renault 5 Gen.1France, 1972 > 198511 versions
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inspiration with a large pane of glass hung diagonally. There is no B-pillar, and the doors are hinged in the front and rear so that they open to expose the entire interior. It is still quite a small car, though, at 3.62m long.

Lovegrove’s biggest addition to the project is the expanse of LED lighting along the roof and rear. It stars at green at the front, changes to blue along the spine and ends as red for the taillights. The look is also brought to the front with white LEDs in the grill.

He brought the LEDS inside as well, and they cover nearly every part of the interior. The interior layout has been simplified to the point of abstraction. There is a tablet for the instruments and a second for the HVAC controls and infotainment.

“I adopted a coordinated approach to both the inside and outside to ensure that Twin’Z read as one object and benefited from the same artistic mind-set founded on digitising and electrifying the car,” said Lovegrove

Mechanically, the Twin’Z is an electric city car with a rear-mounted 68hp motor and batteries located under the floor.

The 18in wheels are unique pieces made by Michelin. They combine the wheel and tire into a single unit. 

“Twin’Z provided us with the ideal opportunity to place the process of automotive design under a different spotlight, a process which straddles the boundary between the world of the automobile and that of furniture,” said Laurens van der Acker, head of Renault design.