Renault has announced that moving forward it will exclusively manufacture electric vehicles and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) in China.
The French automaker has struggled for many years to make in-roads into the Chinese market. In 2013, it announced a 50-50 joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Corporation and established a factory in Wuhan. Rather than push through the difficulties impacting the Chinese car market, Renault has also announced it will transfer all of its shares in the joint venture to Dongfeng, as we reported yesterday.
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“We are opening a new chapter in China. We will concentrate on electric vehicles and light commercial vehicles, the two main drivers for future clean mobility and more efficiently leverage our relationship with Nissan,” chairman of China region of Groupe Renault Francois Provost said.
In re-focusing itself as a brand exclusively building EVs and LCVs in China, Renault will “reinforce” its partnership with Dongfeng and Nissan to sure-up its ‘eGT’ division and launch the City K-ZE around the world.
Renault says it will remain committed to its other Chinese joint venture with Jiangxi Jiangling Group Electric Vehicle Co and aims to cover 45 per cent of the Chinese EV market in 2022 with the launch of four new models.
As for the company’s commitment to light commercial vehicles, it will look to expand the footprint of the Renault Brilliance Jinbei Automotive Co joint venture and extend the local line-up with 5 new core models to be introduced by 2023. In the future, models from the joint venture will be exported overseas.
