Mobilize Duo

Renault created Mobilize, a brand for new kinds of mobility, in January 2021, and in Luca de Meo’s “Renaulution” presentation that month it showed the Mobilize EZ-1 Prototype, a small electric microcar.source 1source 2 The name Duo followed in June 2021, and a near-final car was at the Paris Motor Show in October 2022.source 2source 3 It was to replace the Twizy. When the Twizy’s end was announced in July 2023, electrive said the Duo would be 20 cm longer and 8 cm narrower, and offered by subscription and long-term rental.source 4

Prices were announced at the Paris show on 14 October 2024: €9,990 for the Duo 45 and €11,600 for the Duo 80, with sales from the spring of 2025.source 5 It came in two legal forms named after their top speeds. The Duo 45 is a light quadricycle (L6e), a licence-free car that a 14-year-old in France could drive with the AM moped licence; the Duo 80 is a heavy quadricycle (L7e), which in France needs the B1 licence, from 16.source 2source 5 Mobilize’s product manager put the case for it.

A closed Twizy

The driver sits in front and a single passenger behind, as in the Twizy, but the Duo is closed: two big glazed doors open upwards, and the body is clad in black-grained plastic.source 6 The front and rear bumpers are the same part, and the side skirts swap from side to side; 60 per cent of the body’s polymers are recycled, and 95 per cent of it can be recycled.source 5 The body is 2,430 mm (96 in) from end to end and 1,300 mm (51 in) across, and the Duo 80 weighs 508 kg (1,120 lb) with its battery.source 2source 5source 6 The 48 V motor comes from the hybrid system of the Renault Austral and drives the rear wheels; the battery is 10.3 kWh, roughly one module of a Renault 5’s pack.source 5source 6 For the Duo 80 electrive gave 161 km (100 miles) on the WLTP cycle, French Wikipedia 140 km.source 5source 2 EV Powered called it the first quadricycle with a driver’s airbag.source 6

In a review of the Duo 80 for EV Powered in November 2024, Matt Allan found it narrow enough to slip through gaps that stop bigger cars, the power steering not too light, and the ride respectable, far better than a jarring Citroën Ami’s. Reaching the rear seat took gymnastics, and it was no place for anyone over 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in); there was no storage, no cup holder, and the mirrors were tiny.source 6

Beside it came the Bento, a micro-van with one seat and a cargo box in place of the passenger: 649 litres by electrive’s figure, about a cubic metre by the Wikipedia articles.source 5source 3source 2

One year

The cars were built at Renault’s plant at Tangier in Morocco, on a line that could make 17,000 a year. The 2,000th Duo was built on 7 July 2025.source 2source 1 Inovev’s analysts gave the reasons sales were so low: a two-seater 2.5 m long, dearer than a Citroën Ami at €7,990 and close in price to a Twingo E-Tech; the Duo 80 Evo was later quoted at €12,500.source 1source 7 In December 2025 Renault said that Mobilize would no longer stand alone.source 1source 8source 7

Production of the Duo and the Bento ended at the end of December 2025, before the car reached Britain, where it had been announced for 2025. The Zity car-sharing service in Milan closed, Madrid’s was to end by 2026, and 80 of Mobilize’s 450 jobs went; Renault kept the charging business.source 3source 1source 8source 7 French Wikipedia counts 3,544 built in all.source 2

With about 3,500 built in a single year, the Duo is already a short-lived rarity, though neither an owners’ club nor an auction sale has been found.source 2 A photograph shows a production Duo parked in a French street in January 2026.