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The new Renault Twingo electric car will arrive in the UK in right-hand-drive form soon after its launch next year, the firm’s boss, Fabrice Cambolive, has confirmed.

The fourth generation of the model is due on sale in mainland Europe next year with a sub-€20,000 (£16,700) starting price, but there had been doubts over whether it would come to the UK because of the cost of converting it to right-hand drive. That had echoes of the original 1990s Twingo, which reached the UK only in its second generation.

But Cambolive has now confirmed to Autocar that the model will be sold in the UK, citing the strong positive reception of the Renault 5 and 4 as a key factor.

“The UK is very important in terms of product recognition, because your legacy in terms of cars is very important,” he said. “I’ve followed closely the reaction to the R5 and R4 [in the UK], and with Twingo the exercise will be even more interesting because it’s not only sportiness, agility, design and practicality but we can play on versatility.

“The Twingo can be one of the solutions of mobility for the UK tomorrow. You couldn’t have the genuine Twingo in 1992, because right-hand drive didn’t arrive until a generation after, but I will put all my pressure and my attention to get the Twingo for the UK as soon as possible [after it is launched in mainland Europe].”

Cambolive acknowledged that it hadn’t been easy to make the business case stack up, although it is likely to have been helped by the confirmation that Renault will produce an electric city car based on the Twingo for Nissan.

Speaking about making the business case work, Cambolive said: “It’s a challenge. We have to be very accessible when we speak about B-segment cars. Each time we are adding diversity and cost, it’s a kind of trade-off we have to do. But when I look at the strong start of sales of R5 in the UK, I don’t want to miss the opportunity to launch Twingo in the UK.”

Peugeot has launched a new version of the 208 that cuts the supermini’s starting price from £24,645 to £19,995.

Named the 208 Style, it's available only with a turbocharged 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine that sends 99bhp to the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox.

It's visually distinguished from its more expensive siblings by a colour-contrasting black grille and steel wheels fitted with plastic trims.

Inside, it gets black and grey cloth seats with orange stitching, rather than cloth and faux leather, and retains the other 208 variants’ 10in infotainment touchscreen.

The tweaks mean the 208 now joins a small group of new cars available in the UK with a list price of less than £20,000. This includes the Citroën C3 (£18,305), Dacia Sandero (£14,715) and the Vauxhall Corsa (£17,975).

Deliveries will begin this summer.

As well as revealing the Style, Peugeot has boosted the output of the 208 Hybrid. The entry-level version has been uprated from 99bhp to 108bhp, while the 134bhp version has been boosted to 143bhp.

Meanwhile, the electric e-208 has gained the option of vehicle-to-load (V2L) functionality, allowing its battery to power external devices. This is available for £400 extra on the 51kWh version.

Volvo is moving to a more regionalised business model that will help it better adapt to differing market demands and legislation in Europe, the US and China.

Under the stewardship of recently re-appointed CEO Håkan Samuelsson, Volvo Cars will devolve more power to its businesses in China and the US, while "more directly" steering its European operations from its base in Sweden.

The move was detailed by Samuelsson at the Financial Times Future of the Car event, shortly after Volvo announced a drastic global cost-cutting plan in response to a significant drop in sales and a "challenging external environment". 

The company earlier confirmed that there would be job cuts globally as part of the £1.4bn savings drive, along with reductions in future investments - but Samuelsson said a shift in global operating strategy is also a crucial part of the turnaround plan.

"We are creating much more empowered regions. And this is not something happening right now which is a big surprise to us; we have seen this trend going on for around a long time. We need to produce closer to our customers, to be more agile, more faster in delivery times and to really be a local player."

He specifically highlighted Volvo's factory in South Carolina – as an opportunity to strengthen the brand's footprint in the US - especially crucial now that any car built abroad is now subject to substantial import tariffs there.

"To be a strong brand in the United States, I think you need to be present industrially. That's why we built a factory last time I was in this job. I'm very glad we did that then, because now it's a strategic asset in the new world."

"The US needs to be seen as a profit-making unit with its own factory, which has to be utilised much more than we are utilising it today."

Volvo also plans to leverage its position as part of the Geely Auto group to more specifically cater its Chinese product offering and production footprint to local demands. 

"Let's make China into an empowered, much more autonomous unit, which will have a more regional approach to marketing and sales, but also some local cars which we need to introduce," he said. 

Europe will be the third pillar of the brand's global business, and will be steered "more directly" from Gothenburg. Volvo has now begun production of the EX30 for Europe at its factory in Ghent, Belgium, and will open a new factory in Slovakia within the next two years - though Samuelsson refused to say which cars would be built here.

"We need to work more locally and power the people. Really, what we are after is to have faster growth in China and in the US, by giving them more mandate to adapt to local conditions faster."

Volvo will not go so far as to launch a China-specific sub-brand, as the likes of Audi and Volkswagen have done, for example - but "there will be certain models that are specially suited to China". He referenced the new XC70 SUV and EM90 MPV as examples of this approach. 

Samuelsson's push for greater localisation also applies to the battery supply chain; he said "in Europe and the US, I think we need to start to build batteries locally. And for that, of course, you need technology partners for the chemistry."

He acknowledged that "China is the biggest in the business" when it comes to battery production, but that there are tariffs in place in the US and Europe which mean "you have to look into how that could be used without violating any other restrictions".

"If you want to build batteries in the West, I think you have to have respect for the Chinese," he added. "Starting from scratch is a long run if you don't have any partners helping you to start up battery production. So I think we need to be pragmatic in that respect."

He did not name any potential battery partners that Volvo could partner with in the US or Europe. Currently, the firm uses packs from China's CATL and South Korea's LG Chem.