Renault plans to develop 2,500 euro car

Thursday, 24 November 2011 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Renault and its alliance partner, Japan’s Nissan Motor, are working on a plan to develop a car that costs 2,500 euros ($3,400) destined first for emerging and poor countries, a French newspaper reported.

La Tribune, which released the article ahead of its Wednesday publication, wrote that the car could in time also reach the European market. It cited unidentified internal sources.

The car will be developed under the leadership of Gerard Detourbet, who will take on his role at Renault-Nissan on 1 January after having led the development of Renault’s so-called “Entry range,” or low-cost, vehicles like the Logan and Sandero.

Nobody at Renault was immediately available to comment.

La Tribune said the 2,500 euro yet-to-be-developed vehicle would compare with the 7,700 euros a Logan costs in France.

Renault’s entry-level programme sold around 685,000 vehicles last year, a number equal to more than one-fourth of Renault’s total sales of 2.6 million cars and light vehicles worldwide.

Entry-level vehicles are aimed at emerging regions but have also been a success in more mature markets. The entry programme’s top five markets in 2010 were France, Brazil, Russia, Germany and Iran.