Unfortunately for the 2,300 employees of the Douai factory, the partial unemployment is not a memory to store at the time of the confinements. Due to the semiconductor crisis and the shutdown of production at some Ukrainian subcontracting sites, Renault must stop production at its Megane E-Tech Electric assembly line until at least April 25.
The first copies of the Megane E-Tech Electric, which have apparently already been produced, should be delivered to customers in France in May as planned. However, deliveries of new units to be produced will be delayed due to the production stoppage.
Renault is not the only manufacturer where the launch of a new electric model is compromised due to missing parts. Volkswagen is hard hit, for example, and had to postpone the launch of the ID.5. However, the very close ID.4 is still available (although delays are long) and some customers may fall back on this proposal. For Renault, the challenge is different since the Megane E-Tech is a completely new model and particularly in the development plans of the manufacturer.
Douai employees are not the only ones to suffer this disastrous fate: in March, the Batilly factory (2,700 employees) and that of Cléon (3,300 employees) were shut down due, again, to a lack of chips and parts from Ukraine.
The electric Megane E-Tech is the first Renault model on the fully electric CMF-EV platform. The Renault Megane E-Tech Electric is offered with two combinations of motors and battery: the EV40 with 130 hp and 40 kWh and the EV60 with 220 hp and 60 kWh. Prices start at €35,200.