Groupe Renault will seek to strengthen its presence in East Asia by forging a partnership with Geely to build hybrid cars for the local market.
The partnership will initially focus on launching Renault-badged hybrid models, using foundations derived from Geely, in the Chinese and South Korean markets.
While Geely will supply the vehicles, Renault will retain control over “branding, channel development and services” in the regions. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The partnership does not affect Renault’s 80.1% stake in Korean automaker Renault Samsung Motors, which builds a range of Renault-based models for local sale.
However, Geely and Renault said they would “explore vehicle tracking based on Lynk & Co’s energy efficient vehicle platforms for local markets.”
The move is the last step in Renault’s drastic transformation strategy under the leadership of new boss Luca de Meo. It will allow it to “share resources and technologies” with the Geely group, which notably owns LEVC, Lotus, Lynk & Co, Polestar and Volvo.
The arrangement is similar to Geely’s 50:50 joint venture with Mercedes-Benz, under which the former will build smart badge electric cars for global retail – the first of which will be shown as a concept at the the Geneva motor car next month.
Renault is also working with Mercedes on the development and production of small utility vehicles (the new T-Class will be a twin of the Kangoo, for example) but this has nothing to do with the new Geely-Renault partnership.
In April last year, Renault pulled out of a joint venture with Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor Group, ending the sale of non-electric cars bearing the Renault badge in that market.
The electric models were to continue to be marketed under other joint ventures with Brilliance Jinbei Automotive, eGT and Jiangxi Jiangling.
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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-08-09 10:37:25
