In uncharacteristic style for anything French, Renault wants to expand into new territory. Still. They are “itching to get back into the U.S.,” according to a Wall Street Journal report. Despite a 55 percent drop in stock value this year and rumblings about Carlos Ghosn possibly stepping down from his dual-CEO post, someone at Renault thinks it might be a nice idea to return to the U.S. market. And it might be nice for Scarlett Johansson to tell me the next time she’s going to elope with someone better looking, funnier, taller and richer than I am. But as the philosopher Jagger said, you can’t always get what you want (credit to David Shore for that line). Nissan’s already slumping in The Land of the Free. Renault’s current lineup can’t meet U.S. EPA and crash standards which are different (though not necessarily better) than the Euro NCAP variety. Renault’s diesels wouldn’t have a prayer here without expensive testing or licensing the Bluetec system from Mercedes. And there’s the dealer/distribution problem, which can’t be magically solved by a hypothetical perfect Chrysler tie-up. And then there’s the whole “Americans don’t buy French” thing. And it’s all too bad, because I would love a Renault. But with even Renault saying that they would need to develop three new models specifically for the American market, you’ve got to wonder why the hell they’d bother.
Because they’re bleeding in Europe.
No, seriously. This is classic distraction activity: instead of addressing their real problems, they go off on a tangent, into something new, to avoid dealing with them. GM does this all the time.
Bringing Renault to the US makes no sense for the Renault-Nissan “alliance”. If there is an appropriate Renault product which has something to offer, slap a Nissan badge on it and go forth.
Unless their planning on only bringing their Clio and Twingo superminis, I don’t see how they complement Nissan’s line-up. Their compact MPVs and Koleos will either die a slow death or eat into Rogue and Murano sales. The Espace’s styling and functionality may serve better than Quest’s, and having only small hatches and bigger hatches may give Renault a chic, Euro vibe, but even then, wouldn’t they be better served to just repurpose them as Nissans?
Question is: what does Renault have to offer to the American car buyer. One thing is for sure: it’s not building quality. They even felt they needed to apologise to their customers for the appalling building quality of early Laguna 2 series -which is rare in the car industry- but building quality is a problem over the whole range.
What they do have to offer is some rather brilliant car concepts. I’m thinking mainly about the new Kangoo model they recently introduced. It’s incredible spacious, it will fit 5 adults and all their luggage and offer them a comfortable ride. And they are dirt cheap. In my opinion this is the concept the Americans should be looking at if they are looking for something to replace their gasguzzling SUV’s and MPV’s with. I think it can do everything the owners of these types of vehicles used their cars for, except with a length of only 4.2 meters and a weight of less than 1400 kilo’s and at about 28 MPG. Okay, the weight is only low by US standards.
Peugeot/Citroen offer similar concepts with their Partner/Berlingo range.
The alliance was the slowest car i ever drove. Also the junkiest, one rear wheel fell off at 40K miles because the wheel bearing failed and then the port injector for the engine failed, a 500 dollar part.
At 50K it was junked.
Renault should bring back the Dauphine. It’s well remembered in the US for luxury features, solid heavy-duty design, performance, reliability and durability.
Or lack thereof.
Renault’s diesels wouldn’t have a prayer here without expensive testing or licensing the Bluetec system from Mercedes.
Ah, but this one is supposedly solved. The Maxima is getting a Renault diesel next year. OTOH I think it does use a urea-injection system.
Anyway, why bother? I can’t think of a single Renault I’d be interested in driving here. PSA Peugeot Citroën on the other hand… well, they’re wisely staying away from the US for now.
Ahhh…this reminds me of LE CAR, a tiny little thing Renault imported that I found had the classic short leg/long arm driver position that proved miserable in the driving demo. Ride was el boing-boing, handling was lean, lean, lean some more. Service and dealer support were abysmal.
If Renault wants to come back to USA, they have a huge task to set up a new network and get people to buy an unproven (in USA) product. Given the entire USA market is in a funk and will be for some time, why on earth would they bother?
Well if you can’t get Renaults to come to you, why not go get Renaults… Thats what I ended up doing. I grew up in northern virginia. My parents had a Peugeot 404 and two Renault Alliances, (one in Red like in the picture). Then french cars left en-masse from the US market. So now I have to live in France to drive my Clio. I like it well enough. It is reliable, cheap, and gets pretty good milage… but it doesn’t have le power.
“Renault should bring back the Dauphine. It’s well remembered in the US for luxury features, solid heavy-duty design, performance, reliability and durability.
Or lack thereof.”
A ’59 Dauphine was one of two cars that I learned to drive on. Pencil thin floor shifter (3-speed) that you literally had to feel your way into gear with. You certainly could not tell anything by looking at it. Only benefit was good gas mileage and some sort of plastic floor covering that made it easy to clean up spilled beer.
However stupid bringing Renault to the USA would be, it’s not as stupid as Renault-Nissan’s other plan – bringing Infiniti to Europe. Currently delayed, because dealer interest is approximately zero.
My wife and I were fortunate enough to spend a day driving a RenaultSport Clio 197 in anger around the Nurburgring. Let me tell you, if that particular Renault was to come to the USA they would not be able to keep up with demand. There is NOTHING close to this car and price point Stateside. I’m a complete hack on the track but this little 197 was so much fun. My Clio 197 day at the Nurburgring was one of the best days of my life. On my last lap, in the rain, I passed 3 Porsches, one Ferrari and a Lotus Exige S. If this car was available in the USA I would sell everything I have to buy one.
I just came back from France/Germany, where I drove a Renault Kangoo for 21 days. I’m 6’5″ tall, and I selected this car on the Eurodrive website, sight unseen, except I chose it for its overall height. And WoW, did that ever work out. Headroom, shoulder room, legroom, seat height as well as back & forth ADJUSTABLE. For a smallish van-like vehicle, this Kangoo fit the bill for THREE travelers and our luggage. And the small diesel engine got 54MPG combined city/hwy!! 5 speed manual shifted flawlessly, and while the small diesel engine was no powerhouse, it sailed along at 80mph just fine — and I had it up at 90 once or twice.
This would be the Renault people would buy here in the USA. It is SO utilitarian with it’s enormous back hatch door, and two levels of luggage space. I wanted to buy the one we drove, but they said the paperwork would take three weeks, and anyway, the price they quoted was outrageous. For all that europe has to offer for the touring foreigner, there is something drastically wrong with the EU, the value of the euro, and the exchange rate. It must be the socialism taxation system that’s got everything f___ed up !
Bob in San Francisco