Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Renault still courts US alliance
Renault still wants to cut a deal with a US carmaker.
The French company which owns Nissan of Japan, believes an alliance with a US manufacturer would create a global company which would be hard to beat.
Renault Executive vice president and leader in Europe, Patrick Pelata, who headed up the abortive 2006 discussions with GM, said at the Paris Motor Show that he believed a company with Japanese, European and American DNA would beat the world's no.1, Toyota.
"There are great people at GM and together we could do great things for sure but you have to have the will to be part of a global alliance and that was not embedded in GM in 2006," he said.
Mr Pelata said he was a long time admirer of Toyota, which had a purely Japanese way of working and while its planning, manufacturing, quality and customer services were good they were not always excellent and it did not have a European or American DNA which added other abilities to their business.
He ruled out an immediate return to the US market by Renault and said it saw greater opportunities in China and India, even Brazil, before the American market.
Mr Pelata said the automotive industry was facing enormous challenges but Renault believed the future opportunities would be shaped by the introduction of purely electrical cars using lithium-ion batteries.
By 2015, he said, about 30 percent of Renault's main customer base could switch to battery power for weekly commuting.
Electric power has strongest appeal to what Mr. Pelata called "the balanced greens" - people who sought a serene lifestyle and an attribute which also encompasses some of Renault's traditional virtues but brought up to date.
DATED: 07.10.08
FEED: MT
The French company which owns Nissan of Japan, believes an alliance with a US manufacturer would create a global company which would be hard to beat.
Renault Executive vice president and leader in Europe, Patrick Pelata, who headed up the abortive 2006 discussions with GM, said at the Paris Motor Show that he believed a company with Japanese, European and American DNA would beat the world's no.1, Toyota.
"There are great people at GM and together we could do great things for sure but you have to have the will to be part of a global alliance and that was not embedded in GM in 2006," he said.
Mr Pelata said he was a long time admirer of Toyota, which had a purely Japanese way of working and while its planning, manufacturing, quality and customer services were good they were not always excellent and it did not have a European or American DNA which added other abilities to their business.
He ruled out an immediate return to the US market by Renault and said it saw greater opportunities in China and India, even Brazil, before the American market.
Mr Pelata said the automotive industry was facing enormous challenges but Renault believed the future opportunities would be shaped by the introduction of purely electrical cars using lithium-ion batteries.
By 2015, he said, about 30 percent of Renault's main customer base could switch to battery power for weekly commuting.
Electric power has strongest appeal to what Mr. Pelata called "the balanced greens" - people who sought a serene lifestyle and an attribute which also encompasses some of Renault's traditional virtues but brought up to date.
DATED: 07.10.08
FEED: MT
