When the news came out, it caused a heated discussion in the circle. Is Renault going to say goodbye to the China market? No way!
In fact, the equity of Dongfeng Renault is only one step in a series of adjustments made by Renault to better explore the China market. According to the brand-new strategy in China released by Renault Group on April 14, the cooperation with Dongfeng Group will be further upgraded in the future, focusing on the electric vehicle market in China; At the same time, Renault will also concentrate its superior strength and join hands with Brilliance Auto, another partner in China, to focus on the light commercial vehicle market.
To sum up, Renault's future strategy in China is clear.
From a broader perspective, the global auto market is in a downturn, and not far away, the new four modernizations trend is rolling in. In addition to coping with immediate operational difficulties, major automobile manufacturers also need to support future-oriented investment. In the past, the strategy of "all in one" and "all in one" in various fields has been challenged. Major multinational automobile companies have put forward similar plans to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and contraction has become a temporary theme of the global automobile industry.
Prior to this, Delbos, interim CEO of Renault, had predicted Renault's move today. She said that the company will cut "structural" costs of 2 billion euros in three years, "evaluate the assets of its joint venture in China and control costs".
At that time, there was speculation that this statement referred to Dongfeng Renault.
However, any global automobile enterprise knows very well that the center of the future world automobile industry must be in the East. Even if this market enters the growth bottleneck, China's position as the largest automobile market remains unshakable. More importantly, driven by policies and technologies, China is leading the direction of the new four modernizations of automobiles, which has become the consensus of the future development of the automobile industry.
Renault is well aware of this. In fact, the outside world may have underestimated Renault's willingness to take root in China. In China, as soon as the 1993 private car market was opened, Renault entered the China market and launched a joint venture with Sanjiang in this market that was despised by major international brands at that time. Although it failed later, Renault didn't give up.
10 years later, the second chance came. Dongfeng Renault was founded in 20 13 years. Thanks to the cooperation with Nissan, its production capacity and localization rate have risen rapidly. Renault itself has deep track genes and is good at automobile products. However, considering the preference of China consumers for SUV models, Dongfeng Renault's products are mainly SUVs. With the joint efforts of the two, after two years of production, the sales volume of Dongfeng Renault quickly surpassed 70,000 vehicles.
Just last year, Renault upgraded China to an independent region, on an equal footing with Europe and the United States. Set up a design center in Shanghai and establish an alliance R&D center in conjunction with Nissan.
Until this time, Renault's strategic adjustment in China, Dongfeng Renault has gone through seven years, and the praise and criticism accompanying the ups and downs of sales volume is no longer important. What's important is that Renault has proved with practical actions that the China market can't give up easily, and only by focusing can it seek development.
So what are Renault's advantages? Their answer is also very clear, that is, new energy and commercial vehicles.
In the field of new energy, Renault has been deeply involved for a long time and is the forerunner of the new energy wave in Europe. As the largest electric vehicle manufacturer in Europe, its market share in Europe exceeds 20%, accounting for one third, and the cumulative sales of Renault electric vehicles in the world is nearly 270,000. In the field of light commercial vehicles, it ranked first in the European electric light commercial vehicle market for nine consecutive years, with a market retention rate of 42.5%.
These two fields are in China market, including many joint ventures and cooperation projects, such as Yi Jie Te, Renault Brilliance and Jiangling New Energy. In the future, Renault's strategic focus will also focus on the above projects.
Among them, the strategic position of Yi Jie Special Economic Zone will be strengthened. Founded by Renault, Nissan and Dongfeng, it focuses on the research and development and production of new energy vehicles. Its first model, Renoi Nock, has been on the market for two months, and its sales volume has reached 2,658, with good market feedback. In the future, the company will give full play to the synergy of Renault-Nissan Alliance and further tap its potential in the new energy market in China. In turn, Yi Jie will also provide ammunition for the Renault-Nissan Alliance's offensive in the global new energy market, among which Renault? City? Kaiser. The European version (Chinese equivalent name is Renault e Nuo) is expected to land in the European market next year.
In addition, in terms of Jiangling New Energy, Renault will give full play to its advantages in research and development, production, sales, service, new technology and brand management of electric vehicles, and introduce systems and technologies to enhance the competitiveness of Jiangling New Energy. Four core models will be launched before 2022, covering 45% of the main models in China electric vehicle market segment. In the future, Jiangling New Energy will also be involved in car sharing services and online car service.
In Renault Brilliance, Jinbei brand has a deep brand and user base in China. It has won the champion of light commercial vehicle sales for 19 years in a row, and is in a leading position in the market segment of medium-sized vans, with a market share of 28.4% in 20 19 years. In the future, Renault will deeply empower Renault brilliance jinbei and introduce platforms and technologies, including new energy technologies. Introduce more models and share spare parts system, management concepts and methods.
According to the product plan, by 2023, Renault brilliance jinbei will develop five light commercial vehicles. Renault brilliance jinbei is another R&D entity and a global light commercial vehicle export base. According to the data, Jinbei products sell well in 16 countries around the world, and the export last year increased by 160% compared with the previous year.
Generally speaking, the turn of Dongfeng Renault is an important measure for Renault to gain insight into the market development trend and its own advantages and disadvantages, upgrade and adjust its strategy in China, and focus on advantageous areas. As Fran, chairman of Renault Group in China, said, "Renault Group has opened a new chapter in the China market", and its future development is worth looking forward to. We may have to admit that the China market is not perfect without maverick French cars. When Renault signals that it is unwilling to give up, as the largest and most inclusive market, we should accommodate all brands that are willing to cheer up.
Text/Qin Zhicong
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.