Renault 4 E-Tech electric: a grille design of brilliance

LED technology has revolutionised the design of vehicle headlamps. Designers and engineers now have greater freedom to create unique headlamp shapes and lighting signatures, reflecting brand identity. Unveiled at the 2024 Paris Motor Show, Renault 4 E-Tech electric will be the first Renault vehicle to feature a backlit grille with an illuminated logo. Renault Chief Designer, Design Strategy and Advanced Tech, Stefano Bolis tells us how this innovation came about.

Renault 4 E-Tech electric: a grille design of balance | Renault Group

Some cars have a specific look about them, like a facial expression. A design feature playing on the headlamps and grille that immediately sets the car apart in the stream of traffic. This was the case of the original Renault 4, with its round headlights and rectangular radiator grille with the rounded corners. New Renault 4 E-Tech electric revisits this iconic design, lighting it up with LED technology. A first for Renault. At the helm of this exciting project was Stefano Bolis, Chief Designer, Design Strategy and Advanced Tech.

Renault 4 E-Tech Electric will be the first model to introduce a logo and illuminated grille. The original R4 had chrome surrounding the entire grille and headlights. We’ve made this chrome luminous.”

Stefano Bolis

Renault Chief Designer, Design Strategy and Advanced Tech

Seizing a regulatory opportunity

In June 2023, EU regulations on vehicle lighting were updated to allow the illumination of the logo, radiator grille, or other features. However, the regulatory constraints are stringent. The logo is required to comply with maximum size limits of 100 cm², and to be symmetrical in shape with a fixed, white light. The level of intensity is pre-determined and uniform across the surface of the entire part. No parts can protrude from the bodywork.

“Renault 4 E-Tech electric was the right candidate to take advantage of this new opportunity with the idea of reinventing the iconic front end of the original R4 by exploiting light. And so the decision was made to illuminate the distinctive, symmetrical lines of the logo and radiator grille” said Stefano.

The iconic Renault 4 grille

Renault 4 E-Tech electric and Renault 5 E-Tech electric stand apart from the other vehicles in the range. They share the DNA of icons with a modern twist. In terms of their design, “ they have their own purpose, a freedom of expression in design and styling innovations “ explains Stefano. " Renault 5 E-Tech electric, for example, has unique shining look. The car seems to be alive and it takes us back to the original Renault 5 and the well-known ad ”. To create something unique once again with Renault 4 E-Tech electric, we had to think outside the box. “ For Renault 4, we decided to focus our efforts on illuminating the characteristic features of the front end: the logo and grille ” continues Stefano.

The grille of the original Renault 4 featured unique rectangular lines with rounded corners and a chrome surround. “Light is today’s new chrome, so it made sense to illuminate this characteristic detail. At the same time, the vertical lines of the original were perfect for showcasing the new illuminated logo” says Stefano.

A design approach that is both contemporary and high-tech

Stefano acknowledges a few tweaks in the design: “As you can see, we haven’t entirely respected the original shape of the grille, we’ve taken a few liberties to give it a ultra contemporary look with more character”. The main aim was to give the grille of Renault 4 E-Tech electric a more futuristic look, “rather than a nostalgic retro approach ” explains Stefano. “The result is a vehicle with a design that stands on its own, appealing both the generations that knew the original 4L and often liked it but also to those who don’t have it in mind.”

A closer look reveals the secondary details such as the sculpted pattern in the black interior of the radiator grille, forming a deliberate contrast with the clean lines of the lighting components. The logo appears to float, as if levitating.

The round lights that are so characteristic of cars from the 60s and 70s have been suggested and reinterpreted in terms of both their formal appearance and their function. Endowed with LED technology, they perform the function of daytime running lights (DRL), elegantly bracketing the main lighting module, with its compact, contemporary lines.

“Unlike the original Renault 4 where the indicators were not in the grille, they are now integrated with the daytime running lights” explains Stefano.

The rear lights also revisit the original R4, with the capsule in three parts. “We reinterpreted the spirit in a very contemporary way and simplified the design by removing the outer lens“ he continues.

Meeting technical challenges

Stefano sums up in one sentence the main difficulty facing the project team for this new illuminated grille: “The original Renault 4 was simple, robust and easy to repair. The new version had to follow the same approach! ” The glass required for the grille raised a major challenge, not only for its size, weight and cost, but also for its technical attributes in terms of resistance and durability. The one-piece illuminated grille (1.45 m long) is a world first in the car industry !

To protect the grille and allow it to withstand the minor knocks of parking or difficult traffic conditions, the designers gave a modern twist to the bean shape of the R4’s bumper extensions. Repairability has been optimised, since the grille and two lights are separate components. This means that they can be repaired separately. In the event of LED failure, each of the different light sources in the logo and grille can be repaired individually.

The illuminated grille is not only beautiful. It is also efficient and optimised for repairability.

“I would like to thank the Lighting team and the Engineering department as a whole, because they enabled us to keep to the original intention right through to the industrialisation of the project.” concludes Stefano.