Renault Sport Doesn’t Plan To Build Any High Performance Hybrids In The Near Future

Most carmakers seem to be in a rush to electrify their line-up, but Renault wants to keep the RS-models more pure and old-school – for now.

Mainly because they have to, as the cars on which the current performance-oriented, RS-division models are based on, are not developed to accommodate a hybrid powertrain.

So, even though electric motors are gaining traction when it comes to capable, high-performance automobiles, Renault Sport doesn’t consider the technology reasonable enough (in terms of costs) to implement it on its performance models alone, as Patrice Ratti – Renault Sport boss – stated in an interview with Autocar:

“The cost of investment is too great to justify for Renaultsport alone. We sell just a few thousand cars a year. Such a move would have to be part of a wider hybrid strategy within the firm.”

“That would require a rethink, because there are also issues of packaging. The platform would have to be built to accommodate the additional weight, which in turn presents its own problems. It is not an easy thing to do – especially within price constraints.”

So, if you’re a diehard Renault fan expecting some sort of hybrid Megane RS to turn up and destroy Honda’s Nurburgring lap record, you’re out of luck. However, that doesn’t mean Renault won’t have high-performance RS hybrids in its line-up – eventually – but we advise you not to hold your breath… Furthermore, as long as hybrid models are off the table, don’t expect a full-electric Renault Sport cars either, as the RS chief concluded:

“Today the problem of a fully electric sports car is that you need a lot of batteries, but we’re also working on hybrid for sports cars. Hybridisation could help because of the CO2 [savings]. What’s also great with electric motors is the acceleration. We’re working on it, but we cannot go too expensive with technology. To get the performance we need would require a large battery, and that performance would drain the battery, which would need to be bigger and heavier again as a result.”

Mégane RS 275 Trophy-R pictured