Ever been stuck in a strategy away day? Think what it must be like doing one at Renault, with the trio of carmakers making up the group (Renault, Dacia and Alpine) releasing details of their new strategy to sell more cars.
The answer (contained on around 400 flip charts in the Boulogne-Billancourt area just outside of Paris) is to launch 36 new cars in the next four years and make more profits. Why doesn’t everyone do that, eh?
The plan is being called ‘futuREady’, because the aim is to be ready for the future, but what will it mean for us?
Renault says it’s working on a new 800V electric platform for faster charging and better performance that will underpin a whole range of future electric vehicles across the group, and that it’s developing two streams of batteries.
High-performance, high-density batteries will go in the flagship EVs, while the company will also have ‘affordable’ batteries for its smaller cars and lower range entry models.
Other bold strategic aims for 2030 include cutting the cost of EVs by 40% (whether that’s for Renault making them or us buying them is not clear…) and improving its internal processes so that it can get a new car to market in two years.
When we spoke to Stellantis brands at the Brussels motor show in January, one of the key themes was cutting down on development times so that cars can be brought to market more quickly, which is what many Chinese carmakers have already done.
So what will all these cars be that are being launched in the next four years? Well, we don’t know. Obviously Renault didn’t want to overwhelm us in one strategy day. We have had a few concept cars slung our way though – the R-Space Lab looks fun, with its versatile modular interior and a sleek design that harks back to some of our favourite Renault MPVs.
Unfortunately the R-Space Lab isn’t going into production and Renault says that it doesn’t even point the way to a car that’s going into production, so that’s a shame.
The other exciting concept is the Bridger, a small 4x4 thing that will come in combustion or electric flavours and is intended to be an ‘urban adventurer’. Unfortunately those urban adventures will have to take place in India, at least at first, because that’s where the production version of this concept car will be launched in 2027.
We do know that Alpine is readying an electric sports car range that will arrive in the next few years, positioned above the A110 around Porsche 911 territory. The new A110 will also be launched imminently, so that’s another thing to look forward to.
Dacia says it will have three new electric vehicles on sale by 2030 – we’re expecting one to be revealed on the same engineering base as the Twingo in the coming months – and Renault’s futuREady press release hints at more Renault-badged EVs to come in the Volkswagen Golf/BMW 3-Series part of the market. It’s currently got some large holes in the Captur SUV/Kangoo MPV parts of its range, so we can probably expect those to be filled soon.
Renault used to be known for its innovative, practical interiors – could they be on the way back? 
