Renault Megane in line for hot hatch makeover

Renault could be poised to introduce a RenaultSport-inspired performance version of its Megane hatchback.

The French firm’s CEO Fabrice Cambolive said that it wanted to go in a hot hatch direction as it plans to update its oldest current EV.

The Megane was the first electric model launched as part of the brand’s “Renaulution” but has been overshadowed by more recent success stories such as the Scenic, Renault 5 and Renault 4.

Speaking at the Munich motor show Cambolive confirmed that the Megane is due to get a bigger battery and more power in a forthcoming update, but he said it would go further than minor improvements.

He told media at the launch of the new Clio: “For Megane E-Tech, what we are looking for is to have a hot hatch, that is the direction we want to go in. We want a sporty hatch.”

Renault’s head of design Laurens van den Acker expanded on that idea, saying that the car needed more than a bigger battery to make it appealing. He said: “We need to sell more of them so we need to do something.

“If you put a new battery in a car, which is expensive, and you don’t change the car, then it’s really hard to seduce people to pay more for it, so we need to do justice to the changes under the skin by showing something on the skin.

“What we thought was missing was a kind of hot hatch-looking EV.”

Renault hasn’t given technical details of the new battery or any power upgrades but it is expected that the Megane’s current 60kWh battery will be replaced with the 87kWh unit fitted to the Scenic. That could push its range up from 285 miles to more than 380 miles.

The Megane and Scenic both currently use a 215bhp motor so any spicier version of the Megane is likely to get a retuned version of that front-mounted unit to give it performance to match its visual refresh.

As with any hot hatch makeover, the new Megane, which will arrive in 2026, is likely to get a more aggressive bodykit, larger alloy wheels and an interior update with bespoke trim.

The Renault Group’s only current hot hatch is the Alpine A290 – a boldly revised version of the regular Renault 5 with a 217bhp motor and bespoke chassis setup.