Prototype Of The Renault 5 Winking Its Way Into The Future

Considered to be a cult car, a newly developed prototype of the Renault 5 is following in the skid marks of its ancestor by winking itself into the future.

It was unveiled earlier this year on January 14th, and the R5 can be seen making a return all the way back from the 70’s with a new modern reinterpretation.

Formerly, the first model was released back in 1972 and this new and current R5 prototype which was inspired from the original is a foreshadow for a future electric model.

The man responsible for the development of this mischievous looking R5 with its famously known winking headlights is Renault’s exterior designer Nicolas Jardin.

Being symbolic is what the ‘pretty eyes’ on the car’s face represent, hence this was the main foundation for the design that Nicolas Jardin wanted to replicate on the Renault 5 prototype.

Renault’s exterior designer Nicolas Jardin reveals, “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. Everything started from the lines, angles and extents of the elements of the front of the original R5. Then, during the sketches, the headlights became completely different in their proportions as well as in their design."

Aesthetic wise, for the daytime running lights, it is in a rectangular shape at the bottom and they fit into a body-coloured bumper, as they did originally.

According to the designer, redesigning the mischievous headlights and daytime running lights was a tedious and long process. However, the results were satisfying with the car having a very worked, very chiselled and slightly wrinkled eyes.

"Their crystal and three-dimensional treatment, their very precise cut evokes laser cutting and invokes the worlds of aerodynamics and aeronautics," he further commented.

In order to reinvent the iconic look of the R5 for the current age, ultra-modern processes have been done by the company.

One notable process is the LED matrix technology that allows the integration of movement by programming animations to bring the headlights to life.

This is portrayed by the welcome sequence as the car's new logo lights up and triggers an animation, which extends into the front grille. With this, the headlights come to life to portray as though the car is blinking.

Jardin concludes, “Thanks to the matrix technology and animations in the welcome sequence, we were able to recreate the expressiveness and mischievousness of the original car's look.” "To be a worthy heir to the R5, the car had to become expressive and lively. We have succeeded in this feat with this prototype, a true object of modern design, embodying the Renault ‘joie de vivre’."