Luca de Meo will unveil an eight-year turnaround plan for Renault next year, as the carmaker attempts to overcome a slump in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The recently-appointed CEO spoke about this timeframe during an interview with a Spanish newspaper, reports Autonews Europe. The turnaround is expected to include the Renault brand making an upmarket shift.
De Meo already spoke about how his company might have to make even more cost cuts than the 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) it had already outlined for bouncing back to its feet after a drop in earnings.
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“The next two years will be tough. We have an eight-year plan that will be announced in January, and we can turn it all around,” he told El Pais newspaper in an interview this past weekend. He didn’t however disclose any specifics regarding the plan.
However, based on everything de Meo himself has stated in recent months, as well as multiple reports, we can pretty much deduce a sort of direction as far as this plan is concerned.
For starters, we know de Meo wants to boost the Renault brand’s image, as he was quoted by a French magazine back in September. This means moving away from small and cheap passenger cars and letting the Dacia brand take the reins there.
This also means that Renault will aim for value and profitability rather than volume.
We also know that big things are in store for Alpine, which come 2021 will be involved with Formula 1 in an official capacity, while in the long term, it will produce multiple sporty EVs, some of them perhaps featuring luxury price tags.
Another recent report claims that future Renault performance models will feature Alpine branding, either together with or instead of RenaultSport.
