Renault delays local Clio III launch

The local release of the benchmark Renault Clio III has been delayed until the final quarter of 2007 or two years after its European release, as Renault struggles to find a slot for the new model in the Australian light car segment.

Although the Clio II is still in production, Renault will not follow the previous Holden Astra and current Peugeot 206/207 strategies by running the old and new alongside each other. This creates a dilemma for Renault as the Clio III is one of the latest European light cars to grow half a size and is effectively as big as the Japanese small cars above it that now fill the Australian best seller lists.

Because this extra size (and price) forces the Clio III to straddle the light and small car segments, the pricing and positioning challenges this creates are still being resolved. 

Renault believes that the Australian market will need to evolve further before the larger Clio III and its higher price are accepted. Until then, abandoning the keenly priced Clio II (from $18,990 for the well-equipped five-door) and leaving a hole under a more expensive Clio III makes little sense when the budget priced light car segment is booming.

One scenario is for Renault to define a low $20,000 entry point for the Clio III then supplement it with a quirky new sub-$20,000 Twingo, a smaller, cheaper three-door model that is about to go into right hand drive production for the first time.