One year after signing the failure of its thermal activity in China, Renault has not lost hope of entering the world’s leading automotive market. The diamond brand announced Monday, August 9 a partnership with the Chinese brand Geely to develop hybrid cars, in China and South Korea. An alliance that can benefit both manufacturers: Renault will be able to use the electric platform developed by Geely and Volvo, while its partner will be able to rely on its establishment in South Korea to try to exist in this market. Chinese manufacturers, who are gradually gaining market share in their country, have not succeeded in replicating this success abroad for the moment.
“Hybrid models”
“Thanks to Geely’s existing technologies and its mature industrial footprint, the two partners will jointly develop hybrid models of the Renault brand. Renault will contribute to the strategy, the development of channels and services, to define an appropriate customer experience ”, the Chinese group said in a statement. He relies on French to enter the Korean market, “Where Renault Samsung Motors has two decades of experience”, to hope to locate models of its premium brand Lynk & Co.
Renault had announced the end of its main activity in China in April 2020, when the company had sold its shares in the joint venture with Dongfeng, a state-owned manufacturer based in Wuhan, which also collaborates with Peugeot and Citroën. Arrived in the country late, in 2016, at the start of a strong market slowdown, Renault had nevertheless seen big: its Wuhan plant was designed to manufacture 150,000 vehicles per year, with the capacity to double its production.
In 2019, the former Régie had sold only 18,500 vehicles, against 50,112 in 2018. One ” huge disappointment “ for Renault’s interim CEO at the time, Clotilde Delbos. But the company had not yet drawn a line on its presence in the country. It kept two joint ventures: eGT New Energy Automotive Co., Ltd., formed with its ally Nissan and Dongfeng in 2017 around the entry-level model K-ZE, and another with JMC, also a Ford partner. Finally, Renault also remained present in commercial vehicles, thanks to a partnership with Brilliance, also in difficulty.
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