Renault created the 5 Turbo in response to the Lancia's rallying success with the mid‑engined Stratos.

The high‑performance, motorsport‑orientated 5 was quite a radical reworking of Renault's small front‑wheel drive family runaround, with a mid‑mounted 1397 cc fuel‑injected and turbocharged engine driving the rear wheels.

With 158bhp, it was rather more potent than a standard 5.

At the time of its launch, it was the most powerful production French car.

After the homologation models, a second run, christened the Turbo 2 was introduced using more stock Renault 5 parts.

Despite this, and the Turbo 2 being less expensive, the car had nearly the same levels of performance, with a top speed of 120 mph and 0–62 mph time of 6.9 seconds.