Renault is diversifying its business in an attempt to future-proof itself for a rapidly changing automotive landscape.
Design boss Laurens van den Acker told Autocar the brand must have “its fingers in all areas” of the industry in order to achieve its ambitions for global leadership.
“We believe it will be important to have both sides covered, from the private cars to driverless robotaxis,” he said. “We showed with the Symbioz [an autonomous-capable concept] how a driverless car can exist in our future line-up, but we will also still make cars to be driven.”
Van den Acker said he expects Renault to work with more external businesses to fast-track development in areas of new technology. The brand and its alliance siblings, Nissan and Mitsubishi, plan to launch 15 models with autonomous driving capability by 2022. He said the race against rivals was so intense that “you can’t do it on your own so we will announce partners in the near future”.
Renault’s current business model already spans a wide area of the market.
Its recently relaunched Alpine brand serves at the driver-focused end, while the new EZ-Go concept demonstrates its most futuristic mobility solution.
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Very quiet of late...
I feel as though Renault are being very quiet of late... the Zoe's performance has improved in stages but it's let down by that rather dated interior. Where's the new stuff? I almost feel as though the Megane and Clio are redundant in their current forms... waiting for some big brave moves.
Alpine A110 platform
I wonder if there is any chance of Nissan or Mitsubishi using the Alpine A110 platform to make a small sports car, in Nissan's case something like an up to date 200SX and in Mitsubishi's case something like an up to date FTO.