Renault is considering launching a new premium brand, provisionally called ‘Initiale Paris’.
If the plan goes ahead, the French firm would build its business around four marques, using Dacia as a value brand, Renault as the mainstream brand and Initiale Paris and Alpine as niche premium and sporting brands, according to French newspaper Les Echos.
The move would echo the creation of Citroën’s successful DS sub-brand and would give Renault a chance to piggyback on the success of French premium luxury goods in the huge Chinese market.
Quoting chief operating officer Carlos Tavares, the paper says a decision on the new plan will be made towards the end of the year.
The ‘Initiale’ name was first used by Renault for a 1995 luxury concept car. This pointed the way to Renault’s ill-fated attempt to launch itself upmarket at the turn of the century, a move that began with the Avantime and the unsuccessful Vel Satis.
Early this year Tavares was quoted as saying that Renault’s premium car would be based on a Mercedes E-class platform and have a Renault-designed body and interior. There’s no news on a source for the longitudinally mounted engines such a car would require, although Infiniti, part of the Renault-Nissan group, currently uses longitudinally mounted Nissan powertrains.
Renault is likely to get access to the current E-class platform, which is due to be replaced by Mercedes’ new modular architecture. The first Mercedes based on the new platform will be the 2013 Mercedes-Benz C-Class, suggesting that any new ‘Initiale Paris’ model would not arrive before the first half of 2015.
Mercedes and Renault have a number of ongoing collaborations. The 1.5-litre diesel engine used in the A-class and B-class is French-sourced, and there are plans to build the next-generation Renault Twingo and Smart Forfour on the same platform at Renault’s plant in Slovenia.
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Hard to see how this would
Hard to see how this would work, perhaps in USA like Infiniti but in Europe few see Renault as a premium option.
When they had a technical lead with the Renault 20/30 and than the 25 they had a following but now Audi have taken that segment away from them. The Citroen C6 has shown the potential but Renault would need to do much better than that.
Perhaps a brilliant clean sheet hybrid design could get it back for them but could Renault engineers do that today?
Hmmm the Citroen C6
Dont think it would be wise to use the C6 as a role model . Citroen sold 2 of them in the UK last year . Frankly I think Renaults future looks as shaky as Vauxhall Opel neither brand seems to produce anything cutting edge these days .
The problem as far as I see it is Kia/Hyundai now produce better cars offering customers a better deal and their cars are not renowned for their unreliability . My last Renault was bad enough but the dealer was rubbish just not interested in sorting out the car .
Would I by Korean over French. Yes .
I think buyers of these sorts of cars want cheap hassle free motoring and Renault would do well to think about that .
Don't forget Renault also has
Don't forget Renault also has a big stake in Lada (Autovaz ?), I think.
doesnt renault nissan already have a premium brand?
infinity? which is going really well in the good old us of a? why not try and built the image over here too? (that's a lot of question marks)