What future for Flins? In this factory Renault Yvelines on the banks of the Seine, the question is in everyone’s mind. Since the 4,500 employees of the site have learned six months ago that the assembly of the new Clio would be relocated to Turkey and Slovenia , They are worried. Because they do not see how will be “loaded” the factory, which also produces the ZOE and the Nissan Micra. “We have been alerting the management for several months,” says Franck Daout, CFDT central delegate.
New Clio transferred abroad
With the transfer abroad of the new Clio, arrived in the concessions a few weeks ago, Flins will actually lose several tens of thousands of units: part of the production of the small city was up to that time assembled (74,000 cars last year). The plant will now be used only as a backup site, “if the commercial demand for the Clio requires,” says a spokesman for Renault.
As for the Nissan Micra, it sells worse than expected: its production stood at 72,600 units last year. “This is well below the stated objectives, between 100,000 and 130,000 per year,” notes Denis Schemoul, an analyst at IHS Markit. “And we estimate that production will not exceed 50,000 this year.” Relaunched in 2017, the small car of the Japanese ally should in principle occupy the employees of Flins until 2024 . The level of sales raises however “a risk of radical decision”, notes the expert.
Ambitious goal
There remains the ZOE, which sells very well, but may not be enough to fill the plant. The Losange electric car accounted for 40,000 registrations in 2018, and Renault announced last year a investment to double dedicated capacity, from 60,000 to 120,000 units per year . For the lines to turn full, it would triple the sales of 2018. Although the growth observed in the first half was spectacular (+ 45%), and even if the new version of the ZOE expected in the fall gives a blow additional accelerator, achieving this ambitious goal could take a little while.
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The more distant future worries too. Will the car that succeeds the ZOE be produced in Flins? The Douai (North) site has already been designated to host the future electrical platforms of the Alliance. Will the plant welcome a new Nissan vehicle? The catastrophic financial situation of the Japanese, and its delicate relations with Renault seem little favorable to a new agreement of this type. Especially since the choice to assemble the Micra in Flins rather than in India had already caused a lot of turmoil in Yokohama.
Promise to assign a new platform
Renault management had promised last year to announce this year the assignment to Flins of a new platform . “Different hypotheses are in progress, a decision will be taken by the end of 2019,” it is said in the Losange. Unions are not very confident. “We asked that reflections be initiated to find other activities in Flins, including non-automotive production,” says Franck Daout.
The site’s employees have already experienced such periods of uncertainty, in 2010 or 2013 – when the plant’s production had fallen to less than 120,000 units a year (196,000 last year). They hope that the renegotiation of the “Cap 2020” corporate agreement, which expires at the end of 2019, will ensure a new future for Flins.
In Douai, the hollow of the wave
Designated to house the future electric vehicles of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance starting in 2021, the Renault plant in Douai (North) crosses while waiting for difficult times . Because the vehicles that are produced there (the Talisman, the Space and the Scenic) do not meet the expected success. “Their sales should fall below 100,000 this year, against more than 150,000 in 2016 and 2017,” says Denis Schemoul, IHS Markit. “We have expressed our concern over the next 12-18 months, unanswered for now,” said Franck Daout, CFDT delegate.