Renault unveils its future

Renault Australia is preparing for a comeback in 2010, led by a new Megane range headed by the striking Coupe-Cabriolet unveiled today. Revealed ahead of its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show the Coupe-Cabriolet will be the star attraction when the new line-up arrives in local showrooms in late September.

A smaller, more focused range of vehicles and access to cheaper manufacturer facilities will be two key aspects of the fight back following a disappointing 2009 that saw sales slump 24.8 per cent. Renault Australia Managing Director Rudi Koenig told the Carsales Network that the company is looking to rebound with a number of updated models this year.

"Basically we will have updated our whole product range over the last 18 months," Koenig said.

The first new offering will be the Clio RS in April, followed by the MY10 Koleos in May and then the Megane hatch, Coupe-Cabriolet and red-hot RS250 by the end of the year. In addition to that Koenig indicated that the Megane range would be joined by a new sedan based on the same platform but carrying a different name.

"2009 we underperformed the market," Koenig admitted. "I wasn't happy with our performance last year but we weren't too far off our plans."

And while 2010 is shaping up as more promising Koenig is mindful that the late launch of the Megane range may take time to have an impact on the sales charts.

"The exciting part of the year for us is the second half when our new product arrives," he said. "But it will be late in the year so we probably won't see the full effect of it until the following year."

The Megane Coupe-Cabriolet sports a folding glass roof that can retract in just 21 seconds, as well as a fixed glass wind deflector, standard across the range. The four-seater interior is shared with the new Megane hatch.

Although the European range will be offered with a range of petrol and diesel engines and manual and automatic transmissions, Renault Australia is likely to focus on the 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine mated to a CVT.

Megane sales were down a massive 79.3% in 2009 as the polarising hatch began to feel its age after more than five years on sale. Against the launch of the new Volkswagen Golf -- as well as new offerings from Peugeot and Citroen -- Koenig admitted Renault was falling behind its rivals.

"We've been lagging," Koenig said.

Renault's tie-up with Samsung has opened up new, low-cost manufacturer facilities which should enable Renault Australia to re-position the new Megane at a more competitive price.

"I do expect us to be in a more competitive price positioning," Koenig revealed.

Despite this, Koenig said he was not expecting any change to the current position with the Clio. The company has been unable to expand the Clio line-up beyond the top-level RS because it cannot position the other models cheaply enough.

But it remains on the agenda because Koenig is all-too-aware of the value of having an entry-level model to grab more marketshare.

"Not at this stage," he said. "We've had talks about it. You could say it's our dream to have a light car offering."

Koenig also ruled out the possibility of introducing the Dacia brand to Australia until Renault has recovered.

"It's not my intent to launch another brand in Australia because we're still establishing the Renault brand in Australia," he said. "Once we do that other options become available to us."

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