IN CONVERSATION
WWW.EXPORTANDFREIGHT.COM
CARLOS RODRIGUES MANAGING DIRECTOR, RENAULT TRUCKS UK & IRELAND
The past year has been a positive one for Renault Trucks, but what about the year ahead? Export & Freight’s David Stokes has been finding out from Carlos Rodrigues, Managing Director, Renault Trucks UK & Ireland. “For Renault Trucks UK & Ireland, 2021 was a positive year for a number of reasons, summed up as performance, products and presence,” he tells us.
actually increased during the last 12 months. This has been achieved through very high and detailed levels of inventory management, whilst protecting stock for VOR cases where required.
“On the performance front, we increased our both new trucks and LCV market share for the third year in a row and, despite stock challenges, our Used Trucks team were once again able to sell over 1,200 units.
The teams both centrally in Lyon and here in the UK have done a fantastic job in ensuring maximum uptime for our customers. The group has and continues to dedicate a lot of resource to ensure through the procurement team we can continue to serve our customers.
“From a parts perspective, we were not only able to secure parts availability, but all of our dealer points were able to remain open and continue to deliver an excellent customer service. “In terms of products, we introduced the ‘evolution’ of our T, C and K models with improvements to the exterior design of our cab, driver comfort and driver security at the forefront. “We also registered our first 100% electric HGVs with a 16T D Z.E. entering service with Warburtons in Enfield. “Finally, we grew our presence in the market strengthening our network in 2021 to 72 dealer points with new sites opening in Cornwall, Gloucester, Hoddesdon, Glasgow and Tuxford. And for 2022, we recently announced a new site in Warrington, with our successful dealer for Northern Ireland, Diamond Trucks dealer extending its presence in Great Britain.”
WHAT WILL BE THE MAIN CHALLENGES OF 2022 IN BOTH THE UK AND IRISH MARKETS? In 2022 we want to further build on our successes over the past three years and ensure that we continue to deliver the same level of customer service. That remains our priority focus. The industry is also in a period of transition, and during this phase we are working closely with our customers to help them make the right choices for their business and to support them with their decarbonisation plans.
WHAT IS TRUCK AND PARTS AVAILABILITY LIKE AT THE MOMENT, GIVEN THE CONTINUING MATERIAL SHORTAGES? The supply chain situation is still very tense, and our focus is to maintain the exacting quality of trucks and also our delivery precision, as we not only have to work with our customers but also local body-builders. I would like to thank our dealers and bodybuilder partners for their continuous support in the current challenges and context. Parts availability has remained good at both our dealer and at our warehouses. In fact, first time pick rate at our dealers for current products has
26
EXPORT&FREIGHT
HAVE YOU SEEN AN INCREASE IN THE USED TRUCKS MARKET? IF SO, WHAT IS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THAT INCREASE? Given the shortage of supply of product, we have seen a huge demand in Used Trucks. As a result we have prioritised sales through our retail and dealer channel to ensure we meet this demand and support our customers. We are finding that the average mileage of used trucks sold is higher, as well as an increased demand for newer, higher spec trucks such as our special edition T01 Racing, and the first Used T Highs. We have also sold our first Used fully electric Master Z.E.s.
RENAULT’S RANGE T, T HIGH, C & K TRUCKS WILL ALL BE FITTED WITH THE NEW DE11 AND DE13 ENGINES LATER THIS YEAR; HOW WILL THAT IMPACT YOUR BUSINESS? We’re really excited for the next phase of our TCK evolution with the new DE11 and DE13 engines. These engines offer a 3% fuel saving and C02 reduction versus the current engines and will begin to arrive on our shores in Q3 2022. On top of this, we’re also delighted to be adding a turbo-compound engine to our offer. This will be available on 13-litre 480hp engines and
deliver a further 7% fuel and C02 reduction. These fuel consumption improvements come on top of the 2021 TCK EVO benefits offering up to 3% fuel saving. For Renault Trucks this is another step in supporting our customers’ profitability, and in the current climate with fuel prices going up, the savings customers will see with our latest Turbo-Compound vehicles generation will be substantial.
HOW IS YOUR LCV BUSINESS GROWING? For our LCV portfolio, 2021 was yet another year of growth, with our market share within the 3.5t market increasing by 0.5%, and a healthy order book of vans to be delivered in 2022. Our market share in sector has actually increased by 280% versus 2017, when the original strategy was put in place so things are really progressing well and in line with our expectations. Growth within the electric Z.E. Master sector has again increased significantly in 2021 and we fully expect that around 8% of our total van sales to be electric in 2022. This further reinforces our electromobility story especially in the Municipal sector where the Master Z.E. chassis cab tipper is gaining popularity. And, with the introduction of the Renault Trucks Trafic Red Edition to our LCV range, 2022 is set to be a great year, with the importance and contribution of our LCV portfolio an ever- growing part of our business.
RENAULT ARE PIONEERS OF ELECTRIC MOBILITY, BUT HOW CLOSER TO ‘NORMAL’ ARE ELECTRIC COMMERCIAL VEHICLES TODAY? There is no doubt that the pace is starting to increase and as a result so is our business activity. We are in discussion with many customers across a multitude of sectors, some of which are currently running our Z.E. demonstrators, and since the turn of the year especially, we are taking multiple orders. Later this year we will introduce a new battery for the D, D Wide and Master EVs and this will offer increased range across these vehicles. In summary, for urban and semi-regional applications, Renault Trucks’ electric vehicles are the new normal. The challenge on these applications is not the truck but the design of the infrastructure to support customers operations. Our teams of Energy Transition Specialists are here to support our customers, working with our infrastructure partners. These are new considerations but we are prepared for our customers’ demands.
