Renault to develop Twingos priced under 20,000 euros with Chinese partner

PARIS (Reuters) - Renault said it would link up with a Chinese engineering company to develop future Twingo cars priced below 20,000 euros ($21,676), as European automakers target smaller and cheaper electric vehicles to compete with Chinese peers.

"Twingo's development is moving forward quickly, as we plan to make the development in two years," said a spokesperson for Renault's Ampere electric vehicles division.

"The development of the car will be done with a Chinese engineering partner to improve our development lead time and costs. The project is conducted by Ampere. The styling and advanced engineering project are made in France, and production will be in Europe, as planned," added the spokesperson.

Earlier this month, Renault and German peer Volkswagen ended talks to jointly develop an affordable electric version of the Twingo.

Renault said its decision to choose a Chinese partner for that sub-20,000 euros version of its Twingo came independently of that earlier decision concerning Volkswagen.

European automakers are aiming to produce smaller electric vehicles that sell below 20,000 euros ($21,572) to help them compete with Chinese brands like BYD.

($1 = 0.9227 euros)

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta/Jean Terzian)