Posted on Jul 8, 2021 at 6:15 am
How to regain a foothold in the Chinese market without risking losing your shirt with ruinous investments, and with a product likely to appeal to the local customer? Since his arrival at the head of Renault , Luca de Meo seeks to solve this equation. According to our information, a hypothesis is very seriously under study: bet on Alpine, the group’s sports car brand.
Today, the diamond firm has not completely deserted China. The group is still present in the commercial vehicle market, through its joint venture with Chinese manufacturer Brilliance, but with very low sales.
A late arrival and a debacle
The French manufacturer, on the other hand, has completely left the passenger car market, to which it arrived late. Inaugurated in February 2016 after an initial investment of nearly 900 million euros, the Wuhan plant, set up as part of a joint venture with Dongfeng, quickly hit the ground running.
Sales peaked in 2017 with 70,000 vehicles sold in total (25,000 Kadjar and 44,000 Koleos), while the plant was set for twice the production. The situation then continued to deteriorate, despite the launch of the Captur.
In April 2020, Renault has taken note of its debacle by selling its stake in the joint venture to Dongfeng. And the efforts to persist in 100% electric cars with the K-ZE (of which the Dacia Spring is the European version) came to an end, as revealed by “Challenges” last March.
A market from which we cannot stay away
For Luca de Meo, this situation is not sustainable in the long term. “In 2030, a manufacturer who ignores China is a table that is missing a foot,” he said in September 2020.
The Italian boss knows the world’s largest market very well: when he worked for the Volkswagen group, he went there five to six times a year. “They are ahead of Europe in many areas, whether for electric cars, connectivity or autonomous driving. You have to be there to know what’s going on there, ”he explained last week. in an interview with “Echos” .
Do not come back “with the same song”
The group is already working on getting back to it. In February, Luca de Meo appointed CEO of Renault China Weiming Soh, one of the most respected leaders in the local market, until then executive vice president of Volkswagen Group in China. A significant recruit, when we know that the country represents the first market of the German giant.
Its roadmap has not been disclosed. “We are exploring avenues, but nothing has been decided,” Luca de Meo assured last week. One thing seems certain: a return in a “classic” way seems excluded. “This would require a lot of investment, with the creation of a joint venture, the construction of a factory… explained the manager. This is one of the reasons why Renault was not successful in China: we arrived twenty-five years after the music, but with the same song. “
Alpine to aim for the top of the range
After the fiasco of recent years, a new attempt under the Renault brand does not appear to be on the agenda either. According to our information, the most seriously studied hypothesis would be to play the Alpine card. The group’s sports brand has a lot of aficionados (especially in France), but too few customers (1,500 last year), to the point that the closure of the Dieppe plant, which manufactures the racing cars, has been considered. .
Luca de Meo chose to give it another chance , on condition of winning over new international buyers. And China seems ideal for this: the luxury car segment is particularly dynamic there, to the delight of BMW, Audi and Mercedes.
Formula 1 as a vehicle for notoriety
The choice of a select clientele would allow a restricted distribution network, centered on large urban centers, and therefore less expensive to deploy. And the high margins in this niche made it possible to produce in Dieppe for exporting to China while remaining profitable, by playing the made in France card.
The first step is to develop on the spot brand awareness . It is to this end that the Formula 1 team has been renamed “Alpine” this season. The efforts to one day equip it with a Chinese driver, launched at the time when it was Renault that had to be promoted, are continued.
The commercial offensive, it will undoubtedly not be done before 2024, the time that the new range of Alpine, a 100% electric “dream garage” composed of three models including a top-of-the-range electric SUV, sees the light of day. To drive its sales and marketing, the brand has just recruited Cédric Journel, another former Volkswagen with extensive experience in China.