Yahoo Finance Renault's New R17 Concept Is a Spectacular Revival of a 1970s Beauty
Renault is on a retro kick right now. Back in March, the brand startled the world when it revealed a Renault 5 EV that resurrects the name and shape of the brand's most famous compact car; but their latest retro reveal, a one-off concept described by the company as a restomod, is an even bigger surprise. It's a unique revival of the R17, a mid-1970s coupe.
Unlike the front-wheel-drive original, the R17 EV is rear-engined (well, rear-motored) and rear-wheel-drive. A single motor on the rear axle produces 270 hp, easily beating out the 107-hp peak output of the most powerful original R17. Renault has not announced performance figures for the new EV, but the output should keep the coupe well ahead of the original car's Autocar-tested 0-60 time of 13.2 seconds.
A carbon fiber chassis may seemingly make the R17 EV an unlikely candidate for production any time soon, but it keeps weight down to 3086 lb. That makes the car downright light for a modern production car, let alone an electric performance car.
The R17 concept, officially known as the R17 Electric Restomod x Ora Ito, joins a wave of 1970s throwbacks modernized for the electric era, like the Pony-badged concept that Hyundai showed off in 2021. Buyers hoping for a production R17 may note that the Pony concept led to a more extreme Hyundai concept based on another original Pony design idea; Hyundai may now build that N74 concept in limited production numbers, and Renault fans can certainly cling to the hope that the French brand could do the same.
If Renault does ever produce this stunning concept, American buyers will probably be left out. The Renault-affiliated performance group Alpine has plans to return stateside, but the Renault badge has not been available in the U.S. since the mid-1980s.
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