Electric Renault 5 E-Tech Special Edition Brings the Roland-Garros Feeling to the UK

Curiously, Renault's latest EV endeavors are a hit-and-miss with folks, including yours truly. While I feel like the Megane E-Tech Electric and Scenic E-Tech are kind of cool but also don't have major personalities, it's the recent revival of the Renault 5 E-Tech that made me look at them with kind spirit yet again. Then they went and botched things up with the Renault 4 E-Tech, but that's a different story.

Factor in the fact that my kids practice competitive swimming and volleyball from an early age or the fact that my wife has a passion for tennis, and the all-electric Renault 5 E-Tech Roland-Garros special edition seemed like a match made in clay heaven. Funny enough, it's also available in the UK, the land of grass courts and Wimbledon, of course. But it's good to have options, right?

So, to complement the three grades already available in the United Kingdom, Renault is launching the new Renault 5 E-Tech electric Roland-Garros, which is already available for R Pass customers to order. The Roland-Garros limited series joins the Renault 5 E-Tech evolution, techno, iconic five – and don't ask me why they're all low-letter cases. However, we do know the new special edition is the flagship trim from now on.

As such, it's priced from £29,995 OTR, which is no less than $39k at the current exchange rate, give or take a few dozen greenbacks. However, don't frown about the conversion – Le Car is no longer available in the United States, not even in electric form. Of course, the new special edition builds upon the top trim level with "a host of exclusive features."

Those include an elegant and sporty tribute to the world of tennis and the Roland-Garros tournament with four exterior colors - Artic White, Midnight Blue, Diamond Black, and the exclusive matte Shadow Grey – complemented by a satin chrome roofline and fresh 18-inch black diamond-cut Electro alloy wheels with Shadow Grey centers. There's also a Cross of Saint Andrew featuring a Roland-Garros logo in the center at the base of the front doors, which is inspired by the architecture of the Roland-Garros stadium.

Moving inside, we find a special edition of light grey upholstery inspired by sports clothing. It's a fully recycled textile with open-weave features, including the H-shape of the backrest. The sides and armrest are dressed in deep blue, and the backrests of the front seats have a heat-embossed Roland-Garros logo. Meanwhile, the door panels and the lower part of the dashboard have seat fabric inserts, deep blue touches, and a small French flag.

Last but not least, the satin metal dashboard has a vertical cross strip with an anodized metal finish and a backlit zone named "Roland-Garros Paris." Also, the grip of tennis rackets now inspires the e-pop shifter, has a Roland-Garros logo at the end, and the clay-colored wireless smartphone charger plus clay-colored contoured floor mats add the finishing tennis-inspired touches.

The powertrain of the special edition is based on the Comfort Range version, with a 52 kWh battery and the 110 kW (150 ps/148 hp) engine, plus a WLTP range of 252 miles on a charge. The Renault 5 E-Tech electric is built on the AmpR Small platform at the Ampere plant in Douai, which is part of the ElectriCity "manufacturing ecosystem."