Light commercial vehicle welcomes new rival Renault announces strategy in China

“Hand in hand” was a good story in the industry. Now Renault and Dongfeng broke up during the “seven-year itch” period. I believe the industry is also very surprised.

On April 14, 2020, Dongfeng Group issued an announcement that Renault Group plans to transfer its 50% stake in Dongfeng Renault to Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. At the same time, Renault Group released a new strategy in the Chinese market. The strategy is based on two pillar businesses-electric vehicles and light commercial vehicles.

The specific performance is:

1. Light commercial vehicle business will be carried out through Brilliance Renault Jinbei Automobile Co., Ltd., making full use of Jinbei brand assets and Renault advanced technology.

2. The electric vehicle business will be carried out through two other joint venture companies, Easyjet New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. and Jiangling Group New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd.

The withdrawal of Renault from Dongfeng Renault is a strategic change.

As early as 2017, Ghosn announced Renault’s six-year “push the future” development strategy, promising to expand Renault’s global influence while developing electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles.

But with the global auto market downturn, Renault ’s “six-year strategic development plan” has stalled. Especially due to the global epidemic, global car sales have declined, but China’s commercial vehicle market is still in good shape. We have reason to believe that Renault made strategic adjustments at this time because it valued the potential of the domestic commercial vehicle market.