Luca de Meo unveiled his Renaulution this Thursday, the strategic plan to return Renault to the path of growth. To do this, it will focus the product offering on the CMF platforms of the Renault Nissan Alliance and will focus on the manufacture of models in the C and D segments, with much higher profitability than the B in which it currently concentrates its sales.
Before 2025, it will launch 14 vehicles: 7 will be fully electric and the other 7 will be part of the C / D segments. All the new models will have an electric or hybrid version, as revealed in an event broadcast telematically. After the electric Mégane eVision unveiled in October, the brand has shown for the first time the Renault 5 Prototype, which will mean the return of the mythical model, now with electric motorization – it could be produced in the north of France – under the new Nouvelle Vague slogan, a cinematic tribute.
“I know from experience that when you are able to reinvent a brand’s cult product, you shed light on the entire brand. That is what we expect with the new Renault 5, an electric at a very affordable price. And this is only the beginning for the Renault brand, “said De Meo, who later advanced, in a press conference with the media, that it is also on the table to recover a second classic model with electric engines. The Italian, former boss of Seat, has already made a similar move at Fiat, with the resurgence of the now best-selling Fiat 500.
The Renault brand will focus on technology, entering an ecosystem called Software République together with Orange and other technology partners. In addition, from 2022 it will incorporate a new My Link infotainment software, developed by Google. All of this will make it possible to increase the price of its vehicles by around 500 euros in 2023 and 700 in 2025, as estimated by De Meo, all while reducing fixed costs by around 600 euros thanks to the use of common platforms of the alliance and the reduction of productive overcapacity.
Asked by analysts about the profitability of electric, De Meo said that the ZOE has cut the cost of the battery in half since its launch ten years ago “and is already more profitable than a Clio.” The manager anticipates that said profitability will be even higher in the case of new electrified launches, and also ensures that these types of models offer many more after-sales benefits for the manufacturer than a thermal vehicle.
In this sense, the new models will also be able to receive software updates that will allow them to better maintain the residual material. And the group will also try to break the consumer cycle and generate value until the end of the useful cycle of vehicles thanks to its Re-Factory in Flins (France), in which it will recondition more than 100,000 second-hand cars a year, reuse commercial vehicles diesel and convert them into biogas and pure electric vehicles.
The French group will also create a new business area, called Mobilize. Developed by Clotilde Delbós, the group’s financial manager, its objective is to create new sources of profit from mobility and energy data services. To do this, it will offer mobility solutions and services, such as car-sharing, and will have specific vehicles. The first will be the electric Dacia Spring (whose use in car-sharing services such as Zity, in Madrid, will reduce costs by 20%), which will be followed by a 4.6-meter saloon with 400 kilometers of autonomy (designed for services mobility with driver such as Uber or Cabify) and a successor to the Twizy quadricycle with removable batteries (which would solve the problem of the lack of charging points in cities). Subsequently, as yet undated, a modular electric commercial vehicle for last mile delivery, derived from the EZ-Flex, will be launched. The consortium expects that this new business area will provide it with more than 20% of revenues by 2030.
The consortium will also revitalize its Alpine sports brand. The current activities of Alpine Cars, Renault Sport Cars and Renault Sport Racing will be grouped into a single entity under the Alpine brand, and the brand will be reinforced with the commitment to Formula 1. De Meo advanced that “it will cease to be a brand for nostalgic people to be the technological vanguard of the group ”. Soon, he advanced, it will have a crossover model in its range and a compact vehicle.
Meanwhile, the group will also update the Dacia and Lada ranges, which will also focus its product offering on the CMF platforms. The Russian brand unveiled a new Lada Niva concept with 4×4 capabilities, while Dacia displayed a new logo and previewed a new Duster concept.
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