The Renault 5 Prototype, unveiled in January, makes a clear reference to the original Renault 5 – a cult car from the 1970s – with its iconic shape and striking details. Part of this new design includes a modern interpretation of the original car’s recognisable winking headlights.

A key part of the original Renault 5’s cult status was its playful character and design. As early as 1972 – the year it was launched – Renault personified its look in ‘Les aventures de Supercar’, the famous advertising cartoon, while also appearing on the roads during the ‘Take the wheel’ operation that was in place at the same time. The Renault 5’s most recognisable feature was the set of eyes in the headlights as it drove around ‘meeting’ the French people. It’s a familiar look that Nicolas Jardin, the prototype’s exterior designer, aimed to reproduce on the Renault 5 Prototype, while making it more modern and bringing it into the present. “The work on the prototype was not a free subject. It was a work of reinterpretation of the R5 and its projection into the future, to make it a modern object.”

The original car’s recognisable headlights were reimagined and redesigned with a modern, technological twist. The rectangular daytime running lights are positioned lower down the front of the vehicle and are reminiscent of the additional fog lights of the original Renault 5 which fitted into the bumper in body colour. The prototype has distinctive light units: the dynamic lighting signature uses LED matrix technology to bring the headlights to life. This is demonstrated by the Renault 5 Prototype’s welcome sequence where the new logo illuminates and initiates an animation that extends into the front grille, moving outwards to the main lights that then come to life, as if the car is blinking.

“To be a worthy heir to the R5, the car had to become expressive and lively. We have succeeded with the prototype, a true object of modern design, embodying the Renault joie de vivre, said Jardin.