Renault, Dacia, Automotive trends, Auto industry trends, Automotive market research, Automotive market analysis, auto industry news

Renault is a French OEM that sells cars and commercial vehicles under the following brands: Renault and Dacia. It also has substantive ownership stakes in Nissan (which has control of Mitsubishi) and Avtovaz (owner of the Lada brand). This page contains research on Renault's activities and strategy.

Automotive trends, Auto industry trends, Automotive market research, Automotive market analysis, auto industry news

2020

April

  • Announced a new China plan. Renault will sell its shares in Dongfeng Renault to Dongfeng and the company will cease production and sales of Renault branded cars (although existing customers will be looked after). The brand will continue with commercial vehicles and electric cars through three other joint ventures (one of which is with Dongfeng). (Renault)
  • Cancelled the 2019 dividend. (Renault)
  • S&P downgraded Renault’s corporate bonds to junk (BB+/B). (Reuters)
  • Reached a wage agreement with workers at Renault Samsung in South Korea. (Yonhap)
  • Hoping to raise an additional €4 billion - €5 billion. (Reuters)

March

  • Mitsubishi could reportedly take a stake in Renault as part of a bid to strengthen the alliance. (Reuters)
  • Renault’s Chairman hopes the French government is prepared to provide some financial guarantees to overcome coronavirus losses but won’t take the money if it could lead to renationalisation. (Reuters)
  • Nissan and Mitsubishi are reportedly planning to stop contributions (previously set at up to $200 million per year) to the Alliance Ventures investment vehicle. (Reuters)
  • Unveiled the Morphoz concept, a car that can expand and contract thanks to embedded electric motors. Renault said the car was previewing the design of a new line of electric vehicles, likely to be the next generation models of the Koleos and Kadjar. (Renault)
  • Took the wraps off the Dacia Spring, a budget electric car based on the China market City K-ZE. (Renault)

February

  • Renault’s wholly owned European dealer group is slightly downsizing, offloading ten sites. (Renault)
  • Stressed that a recovery plan (with headline targets if €2 billion in structural cost savings) was still under development and firm decisions wouldn’t be taken until just before the plan is announced in May. (Renault)
  • Moody’s cut Renault’s debt rating to junk and Standard & Poor’s said its rating outlook was negative. (Reuters)
  • France’s finance minister said the government would “play its role as shareholder” to make sure that there weren’t any job cuts in France. Looks like FCA’s trepidation about government intrusion was unwarranted. (Reuters)
  • Plans to sell a 10% mix of BEV and PHEV in Europe in 2020, plus 10% LPG. The gap to CO2 target should be closed by roughly one third additional sales of BEV and PHEV, one third ICE improvement and elimination of worst performing entities and one third through application of super credits (which is really those BEV and PHEVs again). (Renault Presentation p. 36) Renault aims to sell 100,000 ZOE this year. (Seeking Alpha)
  • Plans to reduce fixed costs by at least €2 billion over three years and will announce a series of actions in May within the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance to deliver part of this but further details will wait until after the new CEO joins in July. Renault’s comments implied that cost savings from using the (brand new) CMF-B platform shared with Nissan were underwhelming because the top hats were engineered separately. (Seeking Alpha)
  • Renault is discussing “a whole bunch of ideas” with Daimler for future sharing. With LCV a focus, but not the entire scope of the conversation. (Seeking Alpha)
  • Unveiled the next generation Mégane, which includes a plug-in hybrid. (Renault)
  • Renault Samsung was forced to take down days because of coronavirus-related parts shortages. (Reuters)

January

  • To no one’s surprise, Renault confirmed former SEAT executive Luca de Meo as CEO from July 2020. (Renault)
  • Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi announced a series of measures to deepen integration. Nissan will lead engineering on models for China; Mitsubishi for Southeast Asia and Renault in Europe. Engineering of components will also be shared out, although no details were given. The three brands also plan to pool their collective fleet average CO2 in Europe, starting in 2020. (Mitsubishi)
  • Conducting a series of experiments over a four-year period to look at technologies for electric vehicle charging and the customer reception to them. (Renault)
  • VW’s CEO said ex-SEAT boss Luca de Meo is in talks with Renault about the CEO job. (Les Echos)
  • Renault Samsung workers are staging partial strikes whilst negotiations over wages continue. (Yonhap)
  • Nissan and Renault’s top engineering executives are planning a feelgood session to reignite shared projects (Reuters) or, Nissan is angling for a sell-down of the cross-shareholding. (Bloomberg)
  • Hired Gilles Le Borgne, formerly of PSA, as the new head of engineering. (Renault)
  • Carlos Ghosn said he had been in negotiations to bring FCA into the alliance before his arrest but missed the key go-no go meeting because he had been arrested. (Nasdaq)
  • Nissan is reportedly making contingency plans to go it alone in engineering and manufacturing in the eventuality of a complete split with Renault. (FT)
  • Won’t launch any more diesel vehicles in India and will have an EV in the market by 2021. (Autocar)

2019

Q4 & FY 2019 Results

  • Renault sold 3.75 million vehicles in 2019, down (3.4)% on a year-over-year basis, more than explained by declines in Iran, Argentina and Turkey. Renault said it was working on pricing more than chasing volume. (Renault)
  • Reported 2019 full year financial results. Sales of 3.8 million units fell (3.4)% on a year-over-year basis. Revenue of €55.5 billion was similarly affected -- down (3.3)% YoY, although Renault said that ignoring exchange it wasn’t quite as bad. Operating income was €2.1 billion, down (30)% versus 2018 and net income was a paltry €15 million. For 2020, Renault hopes that revenue will be about the same, despite expecting sales declines of (3)% - (5)% in its major markets. The Guidance implied that restructuring costs would outweigh operational free cash flow. (Renault)

December

  • Lada couldn’t resist jumping on the trend for rugged SUVs with creature comforts. Following in the footsteps of the new Land Rover Defender and soon-to-be-revealed Ford Bronco, the Russian brand updated its 4X4. (Lada)
  • Rumoured to have offered the CEO job to SEAT’s CEO Luca de Meo. (Economic Times of India)
  • Despite a recent labour agreement (in June), South Korean workers at Renault-Samsung have got the hump and are going on strike. (Korea Herald)
  • Investing in Nino Robitcs, a developer of motorised mobility devices. (Renault)
  • Appointed Renault’s Hadi Zablit as the general secretary for the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. (Renault)
  • Nissan and Renault both want to concentrate on improving their financial performance before returning to the subject of the correct capital structure for the alliance. (FT)

November

  • Unveiled a mildly refreshed Espace large MPV. Apparently, 60% of vehicles sold are of the top trim level. (Renault)
  • The head honchos of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi thrashed out a new organisation structure that will see combined activities led by a General Secretary (yet to be appointed). (Nissan)
  • Removing the option to lease the battery for the Zoe in the UK because residual values are stronger than expected, reducing the lease payments for the car itself. (Fleet News)
  • Renault’s former COO Patrick Pelata gave an interview in which he opened the lid on the current state of Nissan and Renault’s relationship (presumably based on well-sourced second hand information). He claims that no new joint projects have kicked off for ages; that Ghosn had stopped caring about details -- allowing executives on both sides to squabble; and that Renault had engaged in adversarial transfer pricing and mismanaged the changeover to WLTP, making Nissan shoulder some of the downside. (Les Echos)
  • France’s government apparently favour an automotive industry professional as the next Renault CEO, potentially bad news for the caretaker CEO as she only came into the industry a few years ago. (Reuters)
  • Renault thinks that used batteries from electric cars could have an application in boats. (Renault)

October

  • Reviewing the “Drive The Future” plan, and targets; interim CEO Delbos stated that are no options off the table with the Formula One team and Alpine mentioned as two business areas that will face scrutiny. (Seeking Alpha)
  • Renault will offer fuel cell versions of the Kangoo and Master commercial vehicles -- but they will be super expensive… the Kangoo (small) van will cost €48,500, plus sales tax. (Renault)
  • Reorganising the UK sales network, but doesn’t intend to reduce the number of dealer sites. (Automotive Manager)
  • A French minister suggested it was very likely Renault’s new CEO would be an external candidate. (Reuters)
  • Invested in automotive cybersecurity developer Upstream Security. (Upstream Security)
  • Fired CEO Bolloré and installed the CFO as interim chief executive. (Renault) Bolloré was understandably dismayed by the decision, having only officially held the job since January. Before the decision was officially announced, he told reporters that the move was a “coup”. (Reuters)
  • Working on plans for enough electric cars to cover all segments of the portfolio. Executives said it was too early to say Renault would be in competition with Tesla, “Renault plasns bigger electric car to rival Tesla” boomed the headline. (Bloomberg)
  • Renault and Waymo are working with authorities in Paris, France, to start a geofenced robotaxi service that would operate between the airport and city centre. No fixed timeline was given. (Renault)
  • Created a new mobility division to house its various car sharing and ride hailing assets, most of which have been held within the finance company up until now. (Renault)
  • Renault launched a service called Mobility Consulting in France, seemingly an attempt at solution-based selling for fleets by advising them how much Renault electric vehicles could save on their total cost of ownership. (Renault)

Q3 2019 Financial Results

  • Renault sold 852,699 vehicles in Q3 2019, a (4.4)% decrease on a year-over-year basis. (Renault)
  • Pre-announced Q3 2019 revenues of €11.3 billion, down (1.6)% on a year-over-year basis and issued a profits warning. Renault say that full year revenues will fall about (3)% - (4)% and operating margin will be around 5%. Even worse, the executive team is re-assessing whether it can meet medium term targets. Renault said the problem was the economy and higher regulatory costs (less clear was why this was a surprise). (Renault)
  • Published Q3 2019 revenue (after earlier announcing headline figures). Renault sold 852,198 vehicles, a drop of (4.4)% on a year-over-year basis. Revenue of €11.3 billion, down (1.6)% YoY contained a (3.9)% YoY drop in the core automotive business excluding the finance company and Avtovaz. Renault said the biggest factor was a drop in sales to partners (primarily Nissan and Iran). (Renault)

September

  • Renault and Mobivia are acquiring control of spare parts company Exadis, in which Renault already owes a stake, subject to approval by competition authorities. (Renault)
  • Unveiled the next generation Captur B-sized crossover, saying that a plug-in hybrid version was on the way. (Renault)
  • Although many manufacturers are fleeing the Sub-B (city car) segment due to rising technology costs, Renault says a fully electric version of the product is a must “to address customer needs”. (Autocar)
  • CEO Bollore said the merger talks with FCA were over and Renault’s priority was helping Nissan. (Reuters)
  • CEO Bolloré says that an all-electric car costing €10,000 will be on sale within the next five years. He thinks that diesel is finished as a technology for passenger cars, but that there is a future for commercial vehicles. (Handelsblatt)
  • Alliance Ventures invested in design outsourcing company Superside (TechCrunch) and Sanity.io. (Sanity)
  • Renault Master production restarted late after the summer shutdown because of a fire in the paint shop that took around a week to repair. (Usine Nouvelle)
  • Fired several employees in Morocco after discovery of a fraud. (Morocco World News)

August

  • Will no longer sell diesel vehicles in India beyond 2020. (Times of India)
  • One of the key executives involved in managing the alliance with Nissan resigned, saying he was off to PSA and that CEO Bolloré told him no one liked him anymore. (FT)
  • Renault and Nissan are reportedly making progress in discussions that will see Renault reduce its Nissan stake in return for the latter’s approval to a tie up with FCA. (Il Sole 24 Ore)
  • Renault Samsung has apparently told unions it wants to reduce production volume by 25% and plant staffing levels by 20%. (Korea Herald)

July

  • According to leaked emails, Nissan and Renault are in the middle of intense negotiations to see whether Nissan would approve the proposed FCA / Renault merger if the French company reduced its current 43.4% stake in Nissan. (WSJ)
  • Linked up with Nigerian firm Coscharis to begin local production of two Renault (re-badged Dacia) models and sell those, and two imported products. (Renault)
  • Confirmed a stake of 50% in the electric vehicle joint venture it is creating in China with Jiangling Motors. The prior press releases had only spoken of a “significant part” of the JV. (Renault)
  • Renault’s chairman said the alliance with Nissan was back on track, there were no plans to restart merger talks with FCA and that no one talks about Carlos Ghosn anymore. (AP)
  • French Police raided Renault’s headquarters apparently looking for dirt on Carlos Ghosn. (Reuters)
  • Renault and Nissan might stop publishing their customary annual cost saving declaration. (Reuters)
  • Alliance Ventures invested in Maniv Mobility’s new $100 million fund. (Economic Times of India)

Q2 2019 Financial Results

  • Renault sold 1,030,231 vehicles in Q2 2019, a drop of (8)% on the prior year. (Renault)

June

  • French president Macron said that nothing would justify changing Renault’s ownership stake in Nissan, or the French government’s shareholding in Renault and told managers to get on with running the alliance instead of trying to change it. (Bloomberg)
  • Nissan’s CEO said he was postponing talks on further integration between alliance partners, preferring to focus on his firm’s financial recovery, warning the alliance could break apart “quickly” if Nissan wasn’t happy. (Reuters)
  • The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance VC unit invested in The Mobility House, a company that uses batteries from electric cars to provide storage for power grids. (Renault)
  • Renault and Nissan signed an “exclusive” deal with Waymo for mobility services in France and Japan. (Renault)
  • CEO Bollore dismissed recent rumours that Renault could reduce its stake in Nissan. (Reuters)
  • Nissan plans to add Renault’s chairman and CEO to two of the new oversight committees. (Nissan)
  • Off-the-record sources said new Renault chairman Senard has decided that the CEOs of both Renault and Nissan are “irritants” impeding good relationships between the alliance partners. (Reuters)
  • Renault Chairman Senard told shareholders that he was confused about the French government’s attitude towards the proposed merger with FCA because it had been the finance minister’s idea in the first place. (WSJ)
  • Agreed terms of a wage deal with Renault-Samsung workers in South Korea. They will get a $10,000 bonus but no pay rises. Union bosses wouldn’t agree to Renault’s request to stop striking until at least 2021. (Yonhap)
  • FCA called off the merger proposal with Renault, saying the French government had been unreasonable. After agreeing to job guarantees, improved financial terms and governance structures, it seems as though demands to get Nissan’s buy-in were the final straw. (FCA)
  • Said an audit concluded that some of the expenses by Renault-Nissan’s jointly-owned Dutch subsidiary raised “concerns” and that it would work with Nissan to take action against Carlos Ghosn. (Renault)
  • Threw a spanner in the works of Nissan plans to change the corporate governance structure, complaining that Renault was under-represented in the new plan, but not objecting to the new framework. (Reuters)
  • As wage negotiations with Renault Samsung bosses faltered, many line workers appeared to break ranks with union calls for an all-out strike. Union leaders said it was gossip spread by malicious managers. (Korea Times)
  • The French government is prepared to reduce its stake in Renault if it helped to safeguard the future of the alliance with Nissan. (AFP)
  • Nissan could refuse to support any revamped merger proposal between FCA and Renault unless the latter sells some of its Nissan stake. (Reuters)
  • FCA may reportedly sweeten the merger deal in Renault’s favour by offering a special dividend and basing the new company’s headquarters in France. (Reuters)
  • France’s finance minister said the government would have several conditions, including job guarantees, to agree to a Renault-FCA merger, but was cautiously supportive. (Reuters)

May

  • FCA Made a public proposal (FCA stressed it was not an offer) for a 50:50 merger with Renault, following weeks of secret meetings between executives of the two firms. FCA estimates that a combined business could save €5 billion annually by 2025, mainly in the fields of purchasing, R&D efficiency and manufacturing economies of scale. The firm foresees €3 billion - €4 billion of implementation costs. FCA says that since it is worth more, its shareholders will have to be paid a €2.5 billion special dividend. (FCA)
  • Renault’s board said they will study the FCA proposal with interest. (Renault)
  • France’s finance minister said the status quo of the Renault-Nissan alliance was harming Renault. (Reuters)
  • Says that Renault Samsung’s South Korean operations will remain an important part of the global research and development operations. (Korea Herald)
  • Engaged Publicis to create content that, Renault hopes, will make people want to sit in their cars for longer. (Renault)
  • Nissan announced a plan for Renault’s CEO to join the board, whilst current CEO Saikawa stays in charge, despite indicating he might be ready to stand down. (Nissan)
  • The Alliance Ventures VC unit is partnering with Plug and Play China to reach start-ups in the country. (Renault)

April

  • Says that electric vehicle sales are “already quite profitable”, depending on the country and vehicle. Executives believe that if the Renault group can capture around 29% market share in Russia (as planned), then the market will be “very profitable”. Renault has also been reducing inventory levels at European dealers. (Seeking Alpha)
  • There is “no question” that Renault will meet European fleet CO2 targets and avoid paying fines. (Seeking Alpha)
  • Unveiled a set of minor updates to the commercial vehicle line-up, mainly powertrain changes. Renault also previewed the next generation Kangoo small van. (Renault)
  • Continues to explore ways to strengthen ties with Nissan, with the latest idea reportedly being a joint holding company. Unfortunately, it seems that Nissan aren’t much interested. (Reuters)
  • The head of Renault India says that new products will double sales because the portfolio will extend from 24% of the market to more than 50%. He is concerned that Renault’s profitability in the country is dependent on the performance of Nissan because the two firms share a 480,000-unit factory and believes that the market for small diesel vehicles will disappear by 2023. (Autocar)
  • Opened a new innovation hub and design centre in Shanghai, China, in partnership with Nissan. (Renault)
  • Completed an audit of executive payments between 2010 and 2018. Although there wasn’t anything wrong, some of the expenses paid on behalf of Carlos Ghosn were a “source of concern”. (Renault)
  • Wants to pay Carlos Ghosn as little as possible for his work in 2018, but that will require the agreement of the AGM, and even then he will still receive €1 million. Renault also will only pay out part of Ghosn’s pension pot. (Renault)

Q1 2019 Financial Results

  • Reported Q1 2019 automotive revenue of €12.5 billion, down (4.8)% on prior year (Renault only reports profits every six months). Renault blamed falling sales and exchange rates. (Renault)

March

  • Renault reportedly wants to give Nissan a short post-Ghosn cooling off period and then resume talks on a full merger within the next 12 months, so that after that the combined entity can take on FCA. (Reuters)
  • The Renault-Nissan Alliance owned three private jets that apparently nobody knew about. (FT)
  • New chairman Senard said that decision making speed in the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi’s alliance needed to improve, whilst boosting autonomy for executives at each company. He also said no one was working on changing the alliance’s shareholding structure. (Reuters)
  • Iranian ministers said that a “mechanism” had been found to allow Renault to reenter the country without falling foul of US sanctions. Renault didn’t comment. (Radio Farda)
  • Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi published an MoU for their new governance structure. Although the existing joint operating companies will not be dissolved, they will become vassals of a new supreme council made up of CEOs from each OEM, plus Renault’s chairman. As part of the deal, Renault appear to have accepted a demotion: Renault’s chairman will be a “natural candidate” to become vice chairman of Nissan. (Nissan)
  • Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi are discussing a new governance structure that would oversee joint projects, in a way that would not require a change to the shareholding structure. (Renautlt)

February

  • Said that if labour unrest in South Korea continued, Renault-Samsung could lose export vehicle production contracts that account for about half the manufacturing volume. (Nikkei)
  • Standard & Poor’s cut Renault’s outlook to negative. (Reuters)
  • Allegedly under investigation for being part of a cartel fixing prices for spare parts in Europe. (Automotive News)
  • Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi’s VC unit invested in PowerShare, a Chinese company that coordinates transactions between EV owners and different charging networks. (RNM Alliance)
  • Claims to be making “good money” on some battery electric vehicle lines. (Seeking Alpha)
  • Won’t give Carlos Ghosn the €30 million or so in severance pay that he could have been entitled to, arguing that because he is in prison he cannot fulfil the terms of his non-compete clause (although oddly Renault retains sufficient confidence for him to remain on the board). (Reuters)
  • Renault Nissan Mitsubishi is rumoured to be in talks with Waymo to use the latter’s self-driving system. (Nikkei)
  • Reportedly criticised Nissan’s handling of the investigation into Carlos Ghosn in a letter between the two alliance partners. Renault pointed to Nissan arranging Ghosn’s arrest rather than questioning him first as an example of where it believes the probe should have been handled differently. (Economic Times of India)
  • The French government has apparently signalled to its Japanese counterpart a willingness to consider reducing Renault’s stake in Nissan to create greater balance in the relationship. (Nikkei)

January

  • Will start a new night shift at the Palencia, Spain, plant in April 2019 thanks to demand for Kadjar. (Europa Press)
  • Carlos Ghosn gave an interview from prison attributing his detention to a plot from Nissan executives set against his integration plans for Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi. Ghosn described a plan for an umbrella holding company that would own all three OEMs but allow them considerable arm’s length autonomy. Nissan’s reservations appeared to stem from Ghosn guaranteeing equilibrium only if each unit displayed “solid performance”, something he implied that Nissan was failing to deliver. (Les Echos)
  • Avtovaz committed to spend about $1 billion in Russia over the next ten years, create 2,300 jobs and increase the amount of localisation. (Renault)
  • Renault has withdrawn the Twingo from sale in the UK. Falling sales were blamed. (Autocar)
  • Carlos Ghosn resigned from Renault and was replaced (exactly as the French government had hoped, coincidentally) with Jean-Dominique Senard as chairman and Thierry Bolloré as CEO. (Renault)
  • Senard will continue in his existing role of Michelin CEO until May 2019. (Michelin)
  • Renault’s lead independent director issued a cryptically-worded message which seemed to imply that the board was now actively seeking a replacement CEO, without actually saying it. (Renault)
  • Reported global sales of 3,884,295 units in 2018, an increase of 3.2% on 2017. Passenger car sales were down, as were Renault-badged models. Strong performance of Dacia and Lada made up the difference (but presumably at lower average revenue and profit). (Renault)
  • The French government took steps to impose an end to the Ghosn saga by openly championing Michelin’s CEO as an ideal replacement for Ghosn and reportedly telling the Japanese government that it wanted to integrate Nissan and Renault under a single holding company -- something Nissan is resistant to and the government appeared to back away from publicly (for now). (Reuters)
  • Senior sales and marketing executive Thierry Koskas abruptly left the company. (BBC)
  • Will not stockpile vehicles in the UK ahead of Brexit, calling the approach “expensive and short-termist”. Renault instead says that it will adapt extremely rapidly to changes as they take place. (Reuters)
  • Said that an internal probe had concluded payments to the executive team for 2017 and 2018 were lawful and had been properly disclosed. The investigation will continue to look at previous years. (Renault)
  • Renault’s head sales planner outlined the volume forecast process. Ultimately, because Renault do not work on the basis of a retail customer “pull” (in common with virtually all other brands), the method is a series of checks and second-guessing as market demands are compared to central production flexibility and overlaid with changes in the market between the time the process kicked off and when it ends. (Automotive Logistics)

2018

FY & Q4 2018 Earnings

  • Renault reported full year 2018 financial results. Revenue of €57.4 billion fell (2.3)% versus prior year. Operating profit of €3.6 billion dropped (6.3)%, all despite a 3.2% increase in unit sales to 3,884,295. Renault blamed currency and raw materials pricing for most of the drop whilst claiming credit for pricing and cost reduction. (Renault)

December

  • One of the main French unions has called upon the company to be more transparent about the financial dealings of the Dutch registered entity that carries out some of Renault and Nissan’s joint business. (Reuters)
  • Will take a “significant” stake in JMCG’s electric vehicle subsidiary JMEV and will elaborate more on plans for the Chinese market once the deal is approved by Chinese authorities. (Renault)
  • CEO Ghosn was released and then re-arrested on addition charges meaning that he may be in prison until the new year. (Reuters) Ghosn’s lawyer said that he believes his honour will be restored in court. (Reuters)
  • Internal company documents allegedly show Renault and Nissan trying to create executive pay schemes that would not be subject to full public disclosure. Renault said none of the proposals mentioned went ahead. (Reuters)
  • A Board review found no issue with Carlos Ghosn’s Renault but did not pass comment on his Nissan remuneration, saying the firm’s lawyers are still looking into the matter. (Renault)
  • At present, Renault is not considering a permanent replacement for Ghosn. (Renault)
  • Reportedly called for an extraordinary meeting of Nissan shareholders following the Carlos Ghosn scandal. The French government is said to be pushing the appointment of Michelin’s CEO as Ghosn’s replacement. (Reuters)

November

  • There was a joint Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi press release saying that the boards of the three companies “emphatically” reiterated the importance of the alliance between them. The press release was only necessary because executives from Nissan and Mitsubishi had openly questioned the sustainability of the present arrangement. (Renault)
  • French president Macron and Japanese prime minister Abe discussed the importance of preserving the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance during a G20 meeting. (Reuters)
  • Will stop building the Nissan Rogue at the Renault Samsung factory in Busan during 2019. (Chosun)
  • Commissioned two wind powered cargo ships for transatlantic routes to be in operation by 2020. (Renault)
  • Appointed Thierry Bolloré as interim “deputy” CEO. (Renault)
  • Carlos Ghosn has lost the confidence of the French state, who are trying to defend the status quo of Renault having voting rights in Nissan, but not the other way around. Following Ghosn’s sacking from Nissan there has been speculation that the Japanese company could increase its Renault stake to a level that would see Renault lose its Nissan votes. (Reuters)
  • Mitsubishi’s CEO said it would be hard for anyone other than Ghosn to run Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi at the same time, calling into question the fate of the three-way alliance. (Reuters)
  • Ghosn has denied any impropriety, saying that the problems lie with Nissan’s regulatory reporting. (Reuters)
  • The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi VC fund invested in lithium ion battery developer Enevate. (Alliance Ventures)
  • CEO Ghosn was accused by Nissan (where he is chairman) of gross misconduct related to reporting of personal income and use of company assets. Nissan plan to remove him as chairman. (Nissan) Renault expressed no support for Ghosn directly, pledging only to look after the company’s interests. (Renault)
  • Acquired peer to peer used car sales platform CARIZY. (Renault)
  • Will make two new products for Nissan and Mitsubishi, improving plant utilisation and return on IP and manufacturing facilities. Nissan will get a Kangoo-based small van called NV250 from Maubeuge and Mitsubishi will have a Trafic-based one ton van from Sandouville. (Renault)
  • The Alliance Ventures VC unit invested in Canadian multi-modal app Transit. (Renault)
  • The Alliance Ventures VC unit invested in Chinese self-driving technology start-up WeRide.ai. (Nissan)

October

  • Will reportedly increase annual production in Casablanca, Morocco to 160,000 units by 2022. Combined with another plant in Tangier Renault will have capacity for 500,000 units in the country. (Xinhua)
  • Transferred production of the Renault Twizy to a Renault-Samsung factory in Busan, South Korea. The 33 workers who had previously manned the line will now make PHEV battery packs instead. (Wards)
  • Renault’s JV with Brilliance will create a new factory in Liaoning, China to make electric light commercial vehicles. There will be three new, as yet unspecified, models. (Renault)
  • The Alliance Ventures VC unit invested in mobility data company Coord. (RNA Alliance)
  • Signed cooperation agreements with three major European energy companies -- EDF, Enel and Total -- to establish electrical charging infrastructure. (Renault)
  • Unveiled the K-ZE small electric crossover. Renault said the vehicle will be “affordable” and launch in China in 2019, with other global markets following. The company also confirmed plans for hybrid and plug-in versions of the Captur, Clio and Megane in Europe. (Renault)
  • Executives said Renault wanted to add a C-sized electric car to its line-up, potentially with SUV-styling and a real world range of 310 miles by 2022. (Autocar)
  • Invested in directional sound specialist Akoustic Arts. (Renault)
  • CEO Ghosn said Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi may extend its cooperation with Daimler to include battery technology, autonomy and mobility services. (Reuters)
  • CEO Ghosn said diesel is “condemned” because of policymakers. (Financial Times)
  • Executives said Renault was unsure whether to continue with the Scenic at the end of the current cycle. (Autocar)

Q3 2018 Financial Results

  • Reported Q3 2018 revenue of €11.48 billion (Renault only reports profits at half-year and full-year), down (6)% on a year-over-year basis. Renault said the decrease was down to exchange rate volatility and weakness in markets outside Europe. Renault expects market growth in the full year to be worse than previously hoped for. (Renault)

September

  • Carlos Ghosn said the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance partners will clarify everything about the future state of the relationship within the first half of his term as Renault CEO (i.e. by 2020). (Bloomberg)
  • Building 60MWh of stationary storage in Europe by 2020. Located across three sites (two Renault factories and a former German coal mine), the project will require 2,000 vehicle batteries, a mix of used batteries and those ready for aftermarket sales will be employed. (Renault)
  • Launched the Moov’in Paris car share scheme with no subscription and rental charges of ~€23 per hour. (Renault)
  • The R-N-M alliance announced a collaboration with Google to use the latter’s Android system for in-car infotainment, with Google Maps providing directions from 2020. (Renault)
  • Showed EZ-PRO, a concept autonomous vehicle system with “highly modular robo pods” that allow the vehicle to be configured between various jobs such as passenger and goods delivery. Renault is the third major OEM this year to put forward such a solution for high utilisation of urban fleet vehicles. (Renault)
  • Launched a new round of discounts in the UK, offering £5,000 off some models. (co.uk)
  • Revealed the facelift for the Kadjar crossover. (Renault)
  • Unions are unhappy with a voluntary redundancy scheme the alliance has offered at its Tamil Nadu, India, plant saying the company should have consulted with them first. (Business Standard)
  • Will stop selling rebadged Dacia models as Renaults in emerging markets, preferring to concentrate on the more recent strategy of building Western European looking vehicles on its value (i.e. Dacia) platform. (Automotive News)
  • Said about 55% of Dacia buyers remain loyal to the brand on renewal and about 10% of sales came from Renault customers. (Automotive News)

August

  • Renault’s big Paris motor show reveal plans fell apart after the concept car was spotted on a photo shoot. (Motor 1)
  • Will unveil the new Arkana crossover at the end of the month ahead of launch in various markets from 2019 onwards. (Renault)

July

  • Said it was “likely” to leave Iran due to US sanctions, reversing earlier confidence in finding a way to continue operations in the country. (Radio Farda)
  • Said that it expects to be able to price for around 2/3 of the currency devaluation it has experienced in emerging markets but, due to the scale of the drop and the market’s inability to absorb rapid price increases, it has so far only recovered around 50% of the effect. (Yahoo Finance)
  • Increasing production of Zoe to 440 units per day. (Automotive News)
  • Will increase production of Alpine models from 15 per day to 20 per day. (Auto Evolution)

Q2 2018 Financial Results

  • Reported financial results for first half 2018. Revenue of €29.957 billion was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis but EBIT was down (3)%. Net income of €2.040 billion was strongly down, reflecting lower profits at Nissan. (Renault)
  • Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi collectively sold 5,538,530 vehicles in the first half of 2018, an increase of 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. (RNA Alliance)
  • Renault sold 2,067,695 vehicles in the first six months of 2018, an increase of 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Although the news was mostly good, sales declined markedly at Renault Samsung. (Renault)

June

  • Karhoo said that it now has a fleet equivalent to 51,000 vehicles in the UK. (Fleet Europe)
  • Starting a new car sharing scheme in Paris, potentially in competition with Bolloré (and now PSA). (Renault)
  • Previewed a Russia market unique medium sized crossover that will likely relate to Kadjar in the same way as Kaptur does to Captur. (Autocar)
  • CEO Ghosn said that although discussions about a deeper relationship between Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, a full takeover by Renault was not one of the options. (Reuters)
  • Acquired a 75% stake in taxi and private hire vehicle dispatch firm iCabbi through its financing arm. (Renault)
  • Announced that annual synergies from the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance reached €5.7 billion in 2017, up from €5 billion in 2016 driven by new measures such as including Mitsubishi in spare parts, retail financing and benchmarking. (Renault)
  • CEO Ghosn said that Nissan’s CEO had been misquoted in saying a Nissan-Renault merger had “no merit” but instead had simply pointed out that a period of consideration to assess merits was required. (Bloomberg)
  • CEO Ghosn implied in an interview that he will step down before the end of his contract in 2022. (Les Echos)
  • Will invest more than €1 billion in electric vehicle development and production in France, with three sites for vehicles and one for motors. Renault said production capacity of Zoe will double and the Douai factory will begin production of a second electric platform, to be shared with Nissan and Mitsubishi. (Renault)
  • Said the local partner had acquired the land for the forthcoming Pakistani factory and construction will begin before the end of the year, with vehicles rolling off the line in 2020 at the 50,000 capacity plant. (Renault)
  • Created the Blue dCi sub-nameplate to differentiate diesel vehicles fitted with urea SCR systems. (Renault)

May

  • Will eliminate the third shift at two Spanish plants, Palencia and Valladolid, due to softening sales of Megane, Captur and Kadjar. 1,400 temporary workers will lose their jobs. (Europa Press)
  • Started selling the battery for the Master and Kangoo electric commercial vehicles on a standalone basis. The 33kWh pack can be obtained for €7,400 (that’s €224 per kWh for a retail customer). (Renault)
  • Faced allegations of price fixing for spare parts in cooperation with PSA. According to the claims, the two companies used Accenture as an intermediary, with the consulting company identifying areas where both companies could raise prices. PSA and Renault both denied wrongdoing. (Manager Magazin)
  • CEO Ghosn said a merger of Renault and Nissan was unlikely before 2020. (Bloomberg)
  • Alliance Ventures will invest in Maniv Mobility’s technology fund and aims to do a deal per month. (Reuters)
  • CEO Ghosn said customers no longer suffer from range anxiety in electric cars “as long as you guarantee more than 300 km”. (Clean Technica)
  • Simplified its line-up in the UK so that there are only three trim levels on major products (from lowest to highest): Play, Iconic and GT Line. (Autocar)
  • Renault CEO Ghosn said “nobody can answer this question” when asked whether Renault and Nissan would merge by 2022. He also said that “more than 95%” of vehicle content needs to be Chinese in order to be competitive in China and that this requires joint ventures. (Macau Business)

April

  • The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance has joined Didi Chuxing’s project to increase availability of BEV and PHEV vehicles for ride sharing drivers. (Nissan)
  • Renault announced an agreement with IKEA in France to provide a fleet of vehicles for short term rental from IKEA stores. The plan is for all vehicles to be electric by 2020. (Renault)
  • Launched a redundancy plan (given the “stable European market”), offset with promises of new jobs for 5,000 young (and cheap) workers. (Renault)
  • Hopes that the electric Twizy quadricycle could become a competitor to motorbikes and is aiming to win a 10,000 vehicle contract from the South Korean post office to increase interest. (Renault)

Q1 2018 Financial Results

  • Said Nissan’s Q1 2018 results would contribute €478 million to Renault’s net income. (Renault)
  • Reported Q1 2018 revenues of €13.2 billion, about flat with the prior year. Registrations were up 4.8% from Q1 2017 to 935,041. Renault blamed exchange (stronger euro) for the difference. (Renault)

March

  • Both companies continued to deny persistent rumours that Nissan and Renault are engaged in merger talks with a view to a new company headquartered in either London or the Netherlands. (Les Echos)
  • The Renault Nissan Mitsubishi alliance announced a series of joint appointments to strengthen shared operational teams. Many of the announcements were matched pairs. As part of the move, cooperation with other OEMs, such as Daimler, was made an alliance responsibility rather than sitting with the individual companies. (Nissan)
  • Showed a concept robo taxi called EZ-GO at the Geneva show. The vehicle features novel closures, including a roof that can open, in order to facilitate entry and exit. The vehicle also relegated the Renault badge to a barely noticeable design feature on the rear 3/4 and a near transparent diamond on the vehicle windscreen. (Renault)
  • Collaborating with Alibaba to create an online sales channel in China on Alibaba’s Tmall site. (Bloomberg)
  • Recruiting 130 employees for its French logistics centres. (Usine Nouvelle)
  • CEO Carlos Ghosn said that a merger between Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi was not an “objective… but something that should happen in a natural way”. (Journal Auto)
  • Hiring 205 employees at Le Mans (Usine Nouvelle); 200 at Cléon (Usine Nouvelle) and 350 at Flins. (Usine Nouvelle)
  • Announced new initiatives for the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, including a deeper involvement for Mitsubishi. By 2022, the group expects to sell 9 million units from 4 common platforms (about 65% of sales) and for 75% of vehicles to use common powertrain. (Nissan)

February

  • Unveiled the all-electric Master Z.E. 1T commercial vehicle, which Renault claims has a 120 km real world range. The new van will be an early adopter of Renault’s Easy Connect fleet management software. (Renault)
  • CEO Carlos Ghosn said he believes that Renault and Nissan are “well advanced” in understanding how to make money from electric cars and that rising raw material costs are not a threat since battery design is improving. (CNBC)
  • As expected, the Renault board recommended that CEO Carlos Ghosn have his contract extended until 2022, calling on him to make the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance “irreversible”. (Renault)
  • CEO Ghosn said that European customers are “running out of diesel” and that retail customer demand for gasoline was much higher than the current sales rate. He cited the Dacia Sandero as a vehicle where Renault was seeing a particularly large swing in demand. (Seeking Alpha)
  • One of the two top executives believed to be in contention to succeed CEO Carlos Ghosn resigned; it is now likely that the chief competitive officer will be named COO and become CEO in time. (Reuters)
  • Said it was holding back on bringing an EV portfolio to India until it knows the government’s infrastructure plan. (Economic Times of India)
  • Production in Flins was disrupted by heavy snow. (France Info)

January

  • Chairman & CEO Ghosn is creating a new structure in the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance to divide operations and strategy roles after he steps down. He believes that it was appropriate to combine these functions in a single person (himself) to form the alliance but that it could harm the continued running. (Reuters)
  • Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi announced their venture capital fund. The rumoured €200 million investment turned out to be only the first year amount with the partners prepared to commit up to $1 billion over five years. (Nissan)
  • Expected to announce a €200 million fund to invest in mobility companies with 40% of the capital from Nissan, 40% from Renault and 20% from Mitsubishi. (Les Echos)

2017

December

  • Reported final 2017 French market registrations of 673,869 units in total -- 554,505 Renault cars and LCVs and 119,357 Dacia vehicles. The total share was 26.4%, slightly down on 2016. (Renault)
  • French media speculated over the top internal and external candidates to replace Carlos Ghosn, predicting that a CEO-designate will be chosen by February. (Les Echos)
  • Signed a joint venture agreement with Brilliance China Automotive to develop and manufacture LCVs. Three segments of vehicle will be produced -- MPVs, medium and heavy vans -- for three brands: Renault, Jinbei and Huasong. The JV is targeting sales of 150,000 units annually by 2022. Renault will have a 49% share. (Renault)
  • Acquired a 40% stake in media company Challenges Group. Renault believes that it will help create content that is specific and engaging for users of autonomous vehicles. (Renault)
  • Said that production of the Alipne A110 sports car has now begun at the Dieppe, France, plant. (Renault)
  • Will achieve 55% local content in Morocco through a set of new agreements with the government. (Reuters)
  • Launched a new 1.3L petrol engine that it has developed in partnership with Daimler. (Renault)
  • Announced the re-launch of Karhoo, the taxi aggregator app that Renault purchased after its failure. The company forecasts that by the end of December over 150,000 taxis will use the app. (Renault)
  • CEO Carlos Ghosn gave an interview in which he said that the industry would be totally transformed in 10 years, with large changes starting in the next three to four years. He said that significant further guidance from regulators was necessary before the winning technology set could be identified. He also said the best business advice he had ever been given was “if you want recognition, buy yourself a dog”. (Nissan)
  • Created a running prototype of the Symbioz concept vehicle in order to show the company’s vision of mobility in 2023 with a autonomous-capable, privately-owned, vehicle. Confusingly, part of this vision seems to be people sitting in the car as it drives, experiencing the drive through virtual reality (video at 01:00 if you don’t believe me). (Renault)

November

  • Signed a joint venture agreement with Al-Futtaim to manufacture and sell vehicles in Pakistan. Construction will begin on a new plant in Karachi in Q1 2018 and car sales will commence in 2019, with locally built units becoming available in larger quantities from 2020. (Renault)
  • Rated the worst OEM for ethical cobalt purchasing in a report by Amnesty International. Page 78 is the key summary. (Amnesty International)
  • Renault declared that its autonomous vehicles have industry-leading obstacle avoidance capabilities. This claim is solely in relation to the way the vehicle executes emergency manoeuvres, not how well it detects obstacles. (Renault)
  • The French government announced that it had reduced its stake in Renault to 15%. (Bloomberg)
  • Dongfeng Renault outlined its strategy to 2022. The company aims to increase sales to 400,000 units annually. There will be nine local models, including three EVs, sold through 400 dealers. (Economic Times of India)

Q3 Financials (October)

  • Reported Q3 revenue and sales (Renault only reports profits every six months). Sales of 866,233 unitswere up 9.4% on a year-on-year basis. Revenues of €12.22 billion were up 15.9%, part of which was the impact of consolidating Avtovaz. (Renault)

October

  • Told workers at its Flins, France plant that it was intending to hire 100 workers on permanent contracts. This is in addition to 200 new recruits earlier in the year. The company will also hire 50 extra workers at the Le Mans plant. The success of the upgraded Zoe is apparently responsible. (Les Echos)
  • Refused to comment on rumours that it has been working on the establishment of a plant in Pakistan since late 2016. (Usine Nouvelle)
  • Created a new subsidiary called Renault Energy Services. The group will concentrate on developing energy infrastructure. Its primary role will be to develop vehicle to grid business models and control systems that can reduce the cost of electricity for electric vehicle owners and to work on 2nd life usage of vehicle batteries (i.e. when the vehicle battery state of charge falls below automotive standard but still has plenty of usable capacity for grid management). (Renault)
  • Has purchased a 25% stake in Jedlix, a provider of technology that can improve the efficiency of vehicle to grid management. (Autocar)
  • Held a capital markets day where it set out its strategy up to 2022. Renault intends to gather further synergies from cost sharing with Nissan and Mitsubishi and has set ambitious growth targets for its business outside Europe (it wants to double sales and triple profits). The company will add 21 new models and expand to 13 new countries. Renault highlighted electric vehicles and commercial vehicles as areas where it believes that it can win share, saying that by 2022 it will have 8 BEVs and that it expects LCV volumes to increase by around 40%. Renault’s presentation also confirmed existing R-N Alliance strategy to have level 4 AVs by 2022 and to operate robo taxi services. (Renault)

September

  • Will implement a line speed reduction in Douai -- producer of Espace, Scenic and Talisman models -- at the end of November. In place of the current two shifts operating at 60 vehicles per hour, one will become a mini shift operating at 30 vehicles per hour. Due to the change, about 700 workers on temporary contracts will be laid off. (Usine Nouvelle)
  • Powertrain demand appears to be holding up well: Renault’s factory in Cléon aims to recruit an additional 100 staff, on top of the 200 hired since the beginning of the year. (Usine Nouvelle)
  • Unveiled the Indian-market Captur B-sized SUV and said that, as with the Russia market version, it would be built on the low cost B0 platform (Renault)
  • Announced an updated set of targets for the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance to achieve by 2022: annual sales of 14 million vehicles; €240 billion turnover; €10 billion of synergies (an artificial figure -- €5 billion claimed currently). The group intend to have 12 purely electric vehicles on sale by 2022 and will launch various levels of driverless systems across 40 vehicles, culminating in a fully autonomous vehicle on sale in 2022. The alliance aims to become an operator of robo taxis, without providing further details. (Nissan)
  • Launched a digital development centre in Russia to create technologies for global markets. (CCFA)
  • Creating an immersive simulator to test the behaviour and response of drivers and passengers to autonomous vehicles, investing €25 million in the project. (Renault)
  • Said it was working towards a localisation target of 80% for the Indian derivative of the Captur (Economic Times of India)
  • Will show a concept car called Symbioz at Frankfurt that shows how Renault sees autonomous, electric and connected trends coming together in a single product. (Renault)

August

  • Renault has collaborated with charging company Connected Energy to integrate used electric car batteries into high power chargers. The idea is that the battery can be charged from the local grid and then discharge at a high rate to a waiting electric vehicle. This allows higher charging rates than many local grids can provide (without an expensive infrastructure upgrade). (Inside EVs)
  • Announced that the Renault-Nissan Alliance would create a new joint venture with Dongfeng, to be called eGT New Energy Automotive, to produce electric vehicles in China. Ownership will be 25% Nissan, 25% Renault and 50% Dongfeng. The initial product will be an A-sized SUV with a sales target of 120,000 units per year, to be launched in 2019. (Nissan)
  • Will reportedly partner with infrastructure company Ferrovial to launch a Spanish car sharing service that uses all-electric vehicles. (Autofactil)
  • Concluded the joint venture agreement with IDRO and NEGIN Holding for additional operations in Iran (on top of the 200,000 unit plant it already has). Renault will own a majority of the business but there will be a “first period of joint control” with the other partners. (Renault)

Q2 Financials (July)

  • Reported first half 2017 financial results. Although operating profit of €1.8 billion was up slightly versus the prior year, the result was lower than expectations. (Renault)
  • Renault published sales figures for the first half. The 1.88 million units sold represented a 10.4% increase on a year-over-year basis, with sales in emerging markets growing particularly strongly. (More…)

July

  • Said that combined sales of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi vehicles meant that on a year to date basis the alliance was the largest seller of vehicles at 5,268,079 units. (Renault)
  • Said that Karhoo was on track to be relaunched in late 2017 with a new strategy. (Auto Finance News)
  • Said that it is on course to spend more on French digital media advertising than television in 2017, the first year that this will be the case. (More…)
  • Gave an overview of its work on driverless technologies. Renault said that by 2020 it will have single lane control in production vehicles (later than some other OEMs, including Nissan). Amongst other things, Renault highlighted the importance of autonomy and said that its current sensor set included 3 LIDAR devices (2 front, 1 rear) -- a departure from the device at each corner approach of many competitors. Timing was given as “after 2020”. Memo: Renault are also involved in partnerships such as Vedecom. This blog post covered only their in-house efforts. (More…)
  • Announced it will contribute a 1,000 vehicle test fleet for a project to test vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication (e.g. with toll booths). The Scoop V2V project will include other partners and should not to be confused with start-up of the same name that BMW invested in. (More…). The wider cooperation includes Sanef / Abertis (More….)
  • Announced a new joint venture in China with Brilliance Automotive (in addition to its JV with Dongfeng). Renault will have 49% of the JV which will be for commercial vehicles. The JV was formed through the re-capitalisation of Brilliance Automotive’s existing subsidiary Shenyang Brilliance Jinbei. (More…)
  • Has invested in a joint venture with driving simulation company Oktal. Renault has taken a 35% stake in the new entity, to be called Autonomous Vehicle Simulation (AVS), which will include Renault’s in-house simulation software SCANeR.
  • Said that in 2016, the Renault-Nissan alliance had delivered €5 billion in annual synergies, a 16% increase over the figure for the previous year. With the addition of Mitsubishi and further application of CMF-based vehicles, R-N expect this saving to reach at least €5.5 billion by 2018. (More…)
  • France’s finance minister announced that the government would put €10 billion towards innovation, with the money coming from the sale of various company stakes owned by the government. He declined to name the potential sales -- Renault was an inevitable target of speculation. (More…)

June

  • After discussions with the French government, Renault committed itself to €10 million of annual orders from troubled supplier GM&S and to make a shared investment (with PSA) of €10 million in the site from 2018. This appears to pave the way for a takeover of GM&S by GMD. (..)
  • Announced the creation of a scheme called CityMakers to incubate seven start-ups in Paris that will work on urban mobility projects. (..)
  • Said that the Renault-Nissan alliance intends to launch driverless on-demand services “within 10 years”, though likely not starting before 2020. The services at launch are intended to be heavily geo-fenced, including specific pick-up and drop-off locations. (More…)
  • Said that it will expand aluminium injection manufacturing facilities in Valladolid, Spain, creating 100 jobs. (More…)
  • Is reportedly studying the creation of a company that would be paid a share of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance savings and pay bonuses to executives over and above their employment contracts with the alliance companies (and possibly with different disclosure rules). The companies refused to give any details but stopped short of denying the scheme was under consideration. (More…)
  • Saw an attempted viral marketing effort result in a #epicfail as the attempt to suggest that a new range of nail polishes could be used by women on their hands and to touch up scratches on their cars met with accusations of sexism. (More…)
  • Saw media speculation about succession planning for CEO Carlos Ghosn’s replacement. The Renault-Nissan alliance is reportedly considering appointing a shared executive who would pursue synergies between the two. The role would be a platform for potential future leadership of both companies and may well be filled by a current Renault or Nissan executive. (..)
  • Reportedly planning a 100 MW battery storage facility in partnership with Nissan and a business called The Mobility House. The site would contain both new and used batteries. (..)
  • Launched a home energy storage product in partnership with Powervault that uses 2nd life Renault EV batteries. The partners claim that the 2nd life batteries reduce the cost of the home energy storage unit by 30%. The program is still at an early stage, with trial units now being installed. (..)

May

  • Saw an activist investor linked to the UAW (US United Automobile Workers union), along with other signatories, send a letter criticising the breath of Carlos Ghosn’s responsibilities and asking the French state shareholding agency to take a more active role. (..)
  • Agreed a deal to take over some of Intel’s French research and development activities. Intel has five R&D sites in France and announced in mid-2016 that it would sell or close all of them. Renault will take on two sites: Toulouse and Sophia Antipolis, with about 400 employees. (..)
  • According to French media, the incoming French government has complained to Renault about the way that the company’s statements portrayed the impact of the State’s shareholding. (..)
  • Shut down some sites in response to the global “WannaCry” cyber attack. Although Renault did not state which sites were affected, off-the-record sources mentioned Sandouville, Batilly, Dacia’s plant in Mioveni and Novo Mesto amongst others. (..)
  • Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn said that it was “good news” that Emmanuel Macron had been elected president of France. Macron was the architect of the move by the French state to purchase a sufficient stake in Renault to force the Florange law terms for double voting rights for long term shareholders to pass. (..)
  • The Renault Duster scored zero stars in recent global NCAP crash test. (..)
  • Renault’s senior vice president for electric vehicles said that mobility will evolve from car ownership to purchasing a service but that adoption rates would vary by country and the “same amount of cars” would be needed. (..)
  • Held an autonomous vehicle drive event where it told journalists that it would like to launch a (limited) public service in 2020. (..)
  • Carlos Ghosn said that Renault’s aim was to realise an operating margin of around 7% in 2022. (..)

Q1 Financials (April)

  • Q1 2017 revenues (Renault only reports profits every six months) of €13.1 billion were up 25.2% year-over-year (excluding the effect of consolidating Russian unit AVTOVAZ, like-for-like sales increased 19.7%). (..)

April

  • Saw speculation in the French press about the effects of the French state gaining double voting rights in Renault (because of the length of time it has been a shareholder) and recalling that Emmanuel Macron was one of the architects of the action taken by the French state to purchase sufficient shares to force Renault’s acceptance of the Florange Act. Once the double voting rights mature, the state will have around 37% voting rights. (..)
  • Employees of troubled supplier GM&S attempted to occupy Renault’s showroom in central Paris. (..)
  • Expects to double sales of the Renault brand in China to more than 70,000 units in 2017. (..)
  • Reportedly looking at a plan to produce an electric vehicle in China through its local partner Dongfeng, without a joint venture. The idea would be that Dongfeng going it alone might be able to more aggressively reduce costs. (..)
  • Saw 200 employees for failed supplier GM&S blockade Renault’s Le Mans factory. In recent weeks they have also blockaded PSA as workers blame PSA and Renault for not providing sufficient business for the company to continue. (..)
  • Renault will begin exporting vehicles to the Persian Gulf (6 countries) from its Russian plants. (More…)
  • Will conduct self-driving car tests with members of the public, similar to PSA’s recent event (Source)

March

  • Announced a project for 200 Zoés, accompanied by 400 charging stations (supplied by Enel) in Sicily.
  • 160 employees of GM&S, a supplier in receivership, blockaded the PSA plant in Poissy because they accuse PSA and Renault of withdrawing business from the company, forcing it into a potential liquidation (283 employees total).
  • Announced the commissioning of a new moulding line costing €48m at its Brittany foundry (500 employees), increasing production by over 50% -- media reports that the plant is still loss-making on an internally accounted basis.