Renault preps for local Kangoo ZE launch

It's going to be a busy second half of the year for Renault Australia as it introduces its first Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), the Kangoo ZE and possibly the Zoe BEV five-door hatch, as well as updates to the existing Kangoo, Koleos and Capur ranges.

Speaking to carsales.com.au at the Renault Megane Sedan and Wagon launch this week, Renault Australia boss Justin Hocevar said that the Kangoo ZE will be launched without the usual marketing and promotion surrounding a new model.

"We'll have to find a way to reduce our total cost of distribution to purely help kick-start the segment. That means that we wouldn't be able to include that normal array of expenses. The obvious choice for us early on is to deal direct with fleet businesses, businesses that are heavily motivated without incentive to look at EVs.

Hocevar explained that the lack of federal government EV incentives has forced his company to use this unconventional sales method.

"Australia isn't an EV-friendly environment from a regulatory or government support point of view, unlike most of the other burgeoning EV jurisdictions around the world.

"That is what makes it difficult; it forces us to look at it in an unconventional way, so when we do something – unless there's tariff concessions in place – it will have to be a different approach to the traditional homologated vehicle."

Hocevar believes that there is a ready-made market for certain global companies set-up in Australia.

"It might be that they are a global entity that has overall fleet emission obligations to meet – if they have a fleet of 100 vehicles, if they have 10 EV vehicles, that might get them an overall emissions reduction that they are seeking.

"There are also some companies, particularly global ones, that have developed sustainability business units; they're going around looking at everything they do, it might be in manufacturing, distribution or even how they're running their head office, and they're looking to be innovators in the electric vehicle space."

There are also back-to-base companies that could lower their operating costs with an EV fleet, according to Hocevar.

"There are back-to-base fleet operators that have done the sums and they understand the no-fuel costs, the off-peak charging that they could do at a base that is very favourably priced, and very low servicing/maintenance cost they see over a period of time – say it's a five-year period – that it could be advantageous for them to run EVs."

The company has been trialling four examples of the Kangoo Z.E. with Australia Post since June 2014. Renault Australia's website says that the Kangoo ZE "will soon be on sale in Australia". When pressed for local timing for the BEV's local arrival, Hocevar would only say: "In the not too distant future, we'll be making some announcements".

Renault Australia is also close to making a decision on the Zoe BEV. Hocevar said that "a small five-door hatch in Zoe is also something of interest to us. With a realistic 320-360km range in a back-to-base vehicle in an urban environment, that's more than enough. You could imagine home services, district nursing, or any of those services that get out in those metro zones to support their clients. It's got real potential."

Meanwhile the Captur facelift announced earlier this year plus long-awaited diesel automatic versions of the Kangoo LCV and Koleos SUV are all due to arrive in coming months.