Renault’s UK boss
Under a new CEO, Renault must act di erently to survive – just ask UK MD Vincent Tourette
For a snapshot of how UK car buying tastes have changed, look no further than Renault’s performance. After a decade of brand-building with the groundbreaking Scenic mini-MPV, some epic hot hatches and the Papa and Nicole TV ads making the Clio shorthand for chic, Renault was the UK’s third most popular brand in 2004.
Five years later the brand languished in twelfth place, registering just one-third of 2004’s volume. A decade later, in 2019, Renault’s volume was again roughly 60,000 – though budget brand Dacia has grown to 30,000 sales in that time.
The only thing that’s been consistent about Renault’s strategy is its inconsistency. But UK managing director Vincent Tourette, heading for a landmark four years in the post, has prioritised consistency and patience in a bid to build long-term stability. It’s beginning to pay off.
‘2020 was a terrible year for the industry for obvious reasons,’ says the boss. ‘We were expecting a tough year prior to Brexit but had not anticipated the virus. It only added to the difficulties.’
But the fifth-generation Clio, an all-new Captur, and a finessed Zoe with extended range gave Renault the platform for success. Tourette’s strategy of building the order bank during the spring lockdown, and focusing on smooth supply from assembly plants all the way through to UK showrooms, delivered a strong summer and autumn. Over 2020, Renault was one of a handful of brands to outperform a market which slumped by a third.
‘Clio and Captur had a good welcome from customers and the press. And after the [spring] restart, those cars were flying,’ says Tourette. Across Europe, Clio vies with Golf to be the continent’s best-seller. Why does it underperform in the UK?
‘Good question. We were leading on that segment, with the Clio RS, Nicole/Papa, Thierry Henry, va va voom. We were pioneers in establishing the Clio as a car for young people: first to introduce PCPs, we had great communication, plus the Clio Williams.’ Tourette blames the decline on the Clio RS falling out of favour when it dropped the manual gearbox in 2012, and ‘in marcomms [marketing communications] we lost our way.’
Tourette believes the latest Clio’s ad campaign, which tells a same-sex couple’s love story in tandem with the Renault range’s evolution, captures some of the humanity and attention of the Papa/Nicole ads. And he sees the new E-Tech hybrid model – with up to 64.2mpg and plenty of electrified driving – as a
halo car for these times, like the defunct RS version used to be. ‘In 2021, we’re thinking 20 per cent of Clios could be E-Tech.’
But don’t expect a rush of new models. After his arrival from Seat last July, Renault CEO Luca de Meo began overhauling the product plan, factory network and workforce, as the group fights to recover from a record €7.3bn half-year loss in 2020. More details will come in a mid-term plan soon.
Tourette says that the CEO ‘wants to give each brand – Renault, Dacia, Alpine – a stronger identity. Each brand will have a much stronger organisation, and the levers to deliver their own volume, profit, customer experience and all that.’ The upshot will be a ‘Renault-lution’ – where the company weans itself off volume in favour of higher prices and higher quality.
‘He [Luca de Meo] is a petrolhead, a car expert, which is very good,’ continues Tourette. ‘His first impact was to review the product plan and adapt it, which I’m very enthusiastic about because everything starts with product. The plan has changed completely in last few months, but it will take a bit of time to see the impacts on the road.’
One change is that a pure-electric B-segment crossover has been sidelined, in favour of the production version of the Megane eVision concept, likely in 2022. It hints that de Meo sees the Megane range blossoming with new variants, the equivalent of the ’90s family that boasted Scenic, coupe and cabriolet.
Part of Renault UK’s volume decline has come from shedding name plates – Laguna, Espace, Twingo and Modus – which delivered sales before substandard cars fell away in a competitive market. Tourette has added the anonymous Koleos SUV to that kill list. ‘If you have a car that doesn’t sell, you’re asking for investment from your dealers, and we need product managers: it’s lots of work and ultimately time and energy wasted,’ he says.
The money is on de Meo’s Renault breathing new life into some old badges with successful product reinventions. Peugeot’s done that with the 208 and 508, as well as adding crossovers. That’s the blueprint Renault is determined to follow.