Renault: Premiere of the R5 as Alpine
BACKGROUND At the Renault Technocentre near Paris, the all-electric Renault 5 goes through the process from prototype to production model. As the Alpine A290_ß, the Frenchman did its first laps at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The new R5 will roll off the production line at the Douai site in northern France. At present, conformity is still being checked there and the optimum level of quality is being ensured in the production process. Only authorized Renault personnel have access to the large prototype production building in the Technocentre; mobile devices are prohibited.
Established 25 years ago, the prototype center is used by Renault to simulate assembly processes as in a regular manufacturing plant. By copying the processes in detail, the center can produce prototypes in line with the manufacturing processes in future series production.
Assembly of the first vehicles
Before large-scale production of the Renault 5 starts, the so-called mules (mules), which are technically identical to the future series model, are being built in prototype construction. The Mules for the upcoming all-electric compact model, which have been in production since October 2021, were given the silhouette of the Renault Clio as camouflage. With this camouflage, the precursors underwent extensive testing in Lapland as part of the development process for the new EV platform CMF-B.
The next step will be the Vehicle Check prototypes, which unlike the Mules already match the design of the future production version. These still camouflaged vehicles are on European roads before the final adjustments are made.
Highest quality standards
Carefully coordinated processes, tools and parts enable the plant teams to focus primarily on the production ramp-up. They are supported by the experts from the prototype center, who accompany the training of the plant staff. The prototype phase serves as a bridge between design concept and large-scale production and offers the opportunity to translate preliminary approaches and numerical data into concrete solutions.
In total, more than 60 vehicles representative of the all-electric Renault 5 are produced in prototype production. The vehicles are extensively tested over long distances, in some cases under extreme conditions.
