Renault Shuts Down Mobilize Brand, Cancels Duo And Bento EVs

Well, it looks like Renault is quietly stepping away from one of its side projects. The Mobilize brand, which was created to explore small electric vehicles and new mobility ideas, is being shut down, and the Duo and Bento EVs are going with it.

Mobilize was Renault’s experiment, launched in 2021 to explore small EVs and new ways of using them. The Duo and Bento followed the same city-focused formula as the Twizy and were ready for production in 2024, but the project was shut down before it could really take off.

Part of the issue was how they were sold. Renault didn’t plan to offer them through traditional dealerships. Instead, they were tied to subscription programs, which sounded flexible on paper but never caught on in a meaningful way. Before the models could even roll out in markets like the UK, Renault decided to pull the plug.

That decision also impacts Mobilize’s car-sharing services. The Milan program is being terminated, and Madrid’s operation will be phased out by 2026. Renault says these projects either never made financial sense over the long term or no longer fit where the company is going.

It's not all being thrown out of Mobilize, however. Renault is retaining the parts of Mobilize that worked well. These will be charging and energy services, and they'll sit directly under the Renault Group.

Through Mobilize, Renault built access to more than a million charging points across Europe, signed up around 90,000 Charge Pass users, launched vehicle-to-grid charging for commercial fleets, and committed to building ultra-fast charging hubs in France and Italy.

In the end, Mobilize feels less like a failure and more like a trial run. Renault tested a few ideas, kept the ones that worked, and moved on from the rest.