PARIS. The two concepts are lined up on the stand of the Mondial deauto. In front of the 4Ever Trophy heir still very showcar and very extreme of the Renault 4 of 1961 and ready for the market in other guises in 2025, behind the prototype of the new Renault 5 unveiled last year, closer to the ancestor of 50 years ago and on sale in its final form in 2024. Both electric prototypes, both inspired by ancient objects of desire: “Maybe to have them first, 5 and 4 – says Raffaele Fusilli, general manager of Renault Italia with a past in Mercedes, Ferrari , Maserati and Ducati – what is happening on the 5 on the Internet is incredible. We will see now also with the 4, but it cannot be otherwise if you work and relaunch on the heritage ”.
For now, Fusilli has to be satisfied with what he has. He does not complain, if not for the global shortage of microchips that is cutting down production and therefore deliveries of the entire auto industry. In the first nine months of 2022, Renault in Italy lost about half a point of share while Dacia gained just over one, overall selling more than the brand that gives the group its name: 50,352 units against 43,394, according to Unrae data on registrations.
How come?
“In the meantime, like everyone else, we have suffered from the lack of availability of microchips, so much so that Renault globally loses about 300 thousand units. In Italy, however, we made a very clear choice: to focus sales on the most profitable channels, that is, those of private individuals. It must be considered that Renault’s cars have a technological complexity for which the number of microchips is higher than that of a Dacia. With the semiconductors available we have thus pushed to reach 77% of Renault sales to individuals and over 90 for Dacia which, as is well known, practically does not operate fleets. This means that as a group we have sold fewer machines but used the most profitable channel well over 80%, guaranteeing us a definitely more significant economic result than in the past. And we will continue like this “.
The return of the Renault 4, proof of the future at the Paris Motor Show
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The forecasts of the Renault boss for the entire Italian car market in 2022 do not differ from that 1.4 – 1.450 million we are talking about, while for next year it remains difficult to read the future in times of war and inflation at stars, shortage of microchips and exorbitant costs of materials: “I don’t think we will have a much brighter 2023 – Fusilli tells us – due to the macroeconomic tensions we know and which impact on consumer confidence. I see a stable market, but with our growth in terms of volume, thanks above all to a full year of Renault Mégane E-Tech and above all of the new SUV Renault Austral ”.
Easy, more hybrid than electric.
“Customers understand the importance of having a full hybrid vehicle that is capable of zero emissions in the city for over 60 or 70% of the time. And on Austral we have very advanced hybrid technology. Without fear of being proven wrong, I can say that this new generation full hybrid is today the most efficient system in the world in the segment, with its 104 grams per kilometer of carbon dioxide and its 100 kilometers with just over four liters of petrol for the 200 horsepower engine. On the electric side, we know that demand is falling and struggling to take off, but we offer a high-level proposal, so much so that we have a mix of electric and hybrid sales that exceed 60% “.
In 2030 Renault will become the only electric brand in Europe, there will be a lot of training to make a big leap.
“We have married 100% zero emission technology after pioneering with Zoe in 2013 and there has been a quantum leap now with the new Mégane. But we do not hide behind a finger: we are still convinced that thermal engines and the hybrid in particular will have a future, at least until 2030. We also know that there are technological alternatives to the electric motor such as hydrogen and on which we will continue to invest. Our main objective is to make electric cars less and less expensive thanks to volumes and economies of scale, supported by state interventions on the diffusion of recharging stations and purchase aids for consumers ”.
Renault Austral, the electrified SUV with a thousand kilometers of autonomy
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Once it was said in the middle of the ford, now the more elegant expression transition is used. How uncomfortable is this situation for you?
“Let’s say that the complexity of the transition is now three times more than in the past. In 125 years of car history, it had never happened that we found ourselves simultaneously in the transition from an internal combustion engine technology to an electric one, from the purchase mode to the end of possession, from an analogue to a digital world. We are in the middle of three revolutions or transitions that we have never had to deal with. But that now we have to ride ”.