Almost non-existent on the high end, Renault plans to return in the race with his partner allemandMercedes, one of the kings of that class. So far, we knew that French was working with his ally on a Nissan platform technique to manufacture both its future high-end, but the Megane compact, and vehicles of similar size in Japanese. But this platform – which targeted 1.5 million cars a year, will be extended to Daimler, the maker of Mercedes. "There will be a common platform between the three: Renault-Nissan and Daimler," said Thursday Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault-Nissan, during a dinner with journalists.
Result, "you move from one platform from 100,000 to 200,000 cars a year" for the high-end Renault, "a platform of 2 million cars.It is no longer the same challenges: cost, quality and performance are not the same, "says the owner of the manufacturer. On this platform, Renault will build the replacement of Space and the Koleos 4 × 4, but also a "range" is replacing both the Laguna and Vel Satis. Laguna does not know the fourth generation: the new vehicle still under wraps, will be greater. These cars are mainly produced in the factory in Douai, France, but also outside Europe, possibly in Korea. They emerge from late 2014 and 2016.
Meanwhile, Renault plans to launch "a vehicle developed with Daimler," on a platform of German, said Carlos Ghosn."I do not think it would be very realistic to say that Renault, which has the ambition to develop a more expanded upper range, will not consider one way or another with some potential collaborations Mercedes for at least one model so ", he had already slipped to Frankfurt Motor Show in September savings account payday advance. Renault-Nissan and Daimler already designing future joint small Twingo and Smart (set in 2014) and a commercial vehicle for Mercedes. The construction of a compact Infiniti, Nissan's premium brand, based on an architecture provided by the group to the star, is also seriously considered.
Amortization of costs
With Mercedes, Renault hopes to succeed where he failed himself. The launch of a vehicle requires high-end development costs very high, particularly disappointing that the volume of Renault failed to dampen.After stopping production in 2009 of the Vel Satis, the diamond was sold last year that 53,000 Laguna, Koleos 39,000 and 17,000 area.
While the three champions of the category-BMW, Audi and Mercedes-emit spectacular margins, the high-end Renault "is the weakest part of our operation, which is not normal," says Carlos Ghosn, who believes that in this area, the French "can hardly do less."
Carlos Ghosn, the partnership between Renault-Nissan and Daimler-each holds 3.1% of the other-is an "opportunity" not to let go upmarket. Daimler, "very smart", is contributing "to the maximum" French in the development of Smart, as the engineers' know we will do better than them. " Conversely, "do not say is that we can do it all on the high end. You must use the skills of Mercedes, "he says.
