Renaulution set to shake

Steve Fowler

Steve Fowler@autovia co uk @stevefowler

RENAULT’S bold new product line-up, including the electrified revival of the famous 4 and 5 badges, is set to arrive in the UK from next year But the ‘Renaulution’ is already having an effect over here, with some fresh plans already put into action

Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, Renault UK MD Guillaume Sicard revealed plans for a publicly available charging network based at many of Renault’s 140 dealers, while a new subscription service has been running for just over a month and is set to be expanded over the coming year

Renault UK is lagging behind other countries in terms of the company’s market share, but it bucked the overall trend of Renault’s global sales in 2022 – which were down by six per cent – with an increase of more than eight per cent in the UK last year

Sicard has spent more than 25 years with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, including stints in India and China And much as he shared his excitement at being in the UK, which he describes as “one of the most advanced markets in Europe,” he revealed how he’s bringing lessons learnt in other markets here

“It’s not about technology, it’s about speed,” he told us “The big difference if I compare the western economies to China is that China goes incredibly fast They have an idea and they launch it under the form of ‘test and learn’ And they are not like western Europeans where we want everything to be perfect before launch ”

Renault’s new subscription service packages insurance, servicing, tax and breakdown cover, and allows customers to take out a subscription on a new car from just three months at a time. It launched last year and already has more than 100 customers

“We’re the first country to launch subscription here in Europe,” Sicard said “It positions the car as a mobility service –the idea of subscription is that it’s freedom and simplicity We’re working with a start-up; even though we’re the first country, it means not everything was fully ready and so on – we work by iteration.

“Every two weeks we look at the results, we change, we test again, we look at the results, we change and it’s okay I just want us to progress and to learn Normally what we should have done is wait probably a few more months before we launched to make sure that everything was okay This way we go faster ”

Renault in the UK is also set to play its part in boosting the electric car charging network here, initially through some of its 140-strong dealer network, as Sicard revealed to us

“We have Mobilize power services, a company we established a year and a half ago, and we are working with well located dealers to put charging stations in place, which are not only for Renault customers but to improve our infrastructure

“It’s starting in France and in the UK we are discussing with various dealers For the time being it’s just around dealers, but if some locations are interesting to implement an infrastructure, we can look at that, too.”

Sicard is investigating a solution that uses old batteries from Kangoo Express models, stored in a container on site “The batteries could charge at night when you have lower demand and then deliver during the day in addition to the grid ”

The first charging station at a Renault dealer is likely by the end of the year, according to Sicard, although he also thinks the Government should step up

“Right now, governments are asking the industry to accelerate unnaturally towards electrification,” he said “It’s a lot of money for the manufacturers; there are a lot of technical issues to solve and a lot of costing issues to solve.

“Governments have put us in a fast lane for this – they have decided on electric So it means that now we need a bit of support for the infrastructure. If the UK wants to be fully electric by 2030, the Government has a massive plan to put in place to make it possible without damaging the overall economy ”

So what else does the Renaulution mean for the UK? It clearly revolves around electrified models, including vans, with Renault UK already ahead of targets “Luca de Meo [Groupe Renault CEO] said that he wants Renault to be the first electrified brand in Europe with 65 per cent of sales that are electrified In H2 last year we were at 65 per cent already,” Sicard told us.

“So the Renaulution is really first in terms of product, in terms of electrification, then tech in terms of connectivity and ADAS [driving aids]. And emotional product, referring to what made at one point the success of Renault – I want to revive the nostalgia of the car with the Renault 5 and Renault 4, and a bit with the Scenic. What others cannot offer is the background, the history, the emotional side

“And the second point, Renaulution is about the excellence of the service and the way you can buy So an acceleration in terms of digitisation, and an acceleration in terms of customer satisfaction. Renault was big in the nineties Renault will be back to being big by the year 2030 ”