► First car from Renault’s new urban mobility brand
► Designed as spiritual successor to Twizy quadricycle
► On sale by the end of 2023 – cargo version due 2024
Renault is forging ahead with its electrification strategy and the launch of its spin-off urban mobility brand, Mobilize. This is the company’s first vehicle, called the Mobilize Duo. It’s a pure-electric, two-seat quadricycle designed to rival the Citroen Ami and replace the aging Renault Twizy.
If you can’t tell from the pictures, the Mobilize Duo is tiny. It measures just 2.43 metres long and 1.30 metres wide which, to put that into perspective, is more than half a metre shorter and 10cm narrower than an original Mini. It’s so small, Renault says you can park three Duos side-by-side in a standard parking space, making it ideally suited to life in the city.
It’s one of the company’s big draws at the 2022 Paris motor show.
Renault hasn’t delved too deeply into the specifications of the Mobilize Duo’s electric powertrain, but the company has said it’ll have a maximum range of 140km (around 87 miles) and that it’ll be available with a choice of two top speeds – 45km/h (28mph) or 80km/h (50mph).
The latter feature is to suit the needs of the French market, where children as young as 14 can drive without a licence – but the cars they’re allowed to pilot must meet a stringent set of regulations. To qualify, the vehicles must weigh less than 425kg, be no more than three metres long and have just two seats, a maximum output of 8hp and a top speed of 45km/h.
It’s certainly a funky-looking thing. Tell me more about the design
Renault says it drew inspiration from videogaming, as well as 1980s and 1990s fashion. For example, the dashboard was styled to look like a boombox – and it’ll be available with a range of customisable finishes. It also has a USB-C port and a mount to hold your smartphone which cuts costs by allowing Renault to leave out a built-in infotainment system.
The Duo’s seating layout is like the Citroen Ami’s, with the passenger sitting slightly behind the driver to maximise the amount of elbow room. The seats are trimmed with wipe-down polyamide-coated fabric pads, and there’s space either side of the driver’s seat to store two cabin bags.
Its doors open upwards rather than outwards which Renault says will make it easier to get out of the car in tight parking spaces. Unusually, the Mobilize Duo also doesn’t have a key. Instead, the door locks and ignition are controlled using a smartphone app, which should mean it’s less hassle to share the car across company fleets.
Renault also designed the Mobilize Duo to be as sustainable as possible. The body panels aren’t painted and the front and rear bumpers are identical to save money on production costs. The company plans to build it from more than 50 percent recycled materials and, when it reaches the end of its life, it’ll be 95 percent recyclable.
But wait, there’s more! Here’s a tiny van version!
Citroen turned its tiny Ami quadricycle into a van by removing the standard model’s passenger seat and bolting a storage box into the newly freed space in the cabin. Renault is planning to pull a similar trick with the Duo, but its offering promises to be much more practical.
The Mobilize Bento is based on the same platform as the Duo, but it features a different body with a massive 700-litre cargo box on the back. That’s around three times the capacity of a Volkswagen Up!’s boot and, most importantly, 440-litres more than you get in the Citroen Ami Cargo.
The rear can open as wide as 140 degrees and there’s a handy hatch between the cargo bay and the cockpit to allow drivers to transport longer items. Renault also plans to launch a range of accessories for the cargo area, like tool racks, to suit the needs of different professionals.
Renault will launch the Mobilize Bento in 2024 – and, while it might sound like it has the Ami Cargo beaten already, we’re keenly anticipating the pricelist. There’s a chance the Bento will be more expensive to cover the development costs of the modified body and the fancy new storage box.
I’m sold. How can I get my hands on one?
Well, that’s not as easy as you’d think. Unlike the Citroen Ami, Mobilize Duo customers can’t just slap down a lump sum and buy the car outright. When it first hits the market, Mobilize plans to only offer the vehicle to private customers on three-month flexible leasing agreements.
Business customers will have access to a range of long-term lease deals – and the payments will also cover the cost of maintenance, insurance and charging. Corrine Pakey, product performance leader for Duo and Bento, said this system will offer business users “all-round peace of mind.”
Renault hasn’t yet confirmed whether the Mobilize Duo will be sold in the UK. However, given the popularity of the Citroen Ami, we reckon it would be foolish to not bring it over the Channel.
