“In most places in the world, people are still going to want to own their own cars.” This line from Clotilde Delbos, boss of Renault Group’s Mobilize, was refreshing during a presentation on Tuesday outlining how the nascent mobility arm was going to capitalise on people not wanting to own cars any more.
But then Delbos, Renault’s straight-talking former chief financial officer, isn’t your regular hype merchant.
Car makers’ mobility journeys are increasingly entering the reality stage as they work out what’s practical to offer people who are becoming ambivalent about car ownership but still want access to one.
Talk of fleets of autonomous taxis, for example, once a central theme of the mobility revolution, has cooled.