Depending on their sales, profitability and ROI the underperforming regional units will be shut at the end of the review period, with immediate effect, and yes, that could include Renault Australia!
Over the decades all the French brands have struggled to keep their heads above water, because French cars are niche performers, and with Australia's relatively small population, there simply aren't enough potential buyers for Renaults, Peugeots and Citroens, and their continued existence in this region has been all because of historical precedence.
Rather than being aggressive predators on competing brands, the French cars seem to simply feed off each other, and the longtime buyers of French cars are a dwindling population, as (especially) the Korean brands make major inroads at the price-sensitive end of the market, with Mazda and Toyota dominating the next price segment up the ladder.
As I reported a few days ago, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance is in BIG trouble, and COVID19 has hit the Alliance very hard - especially in France.
Renault Australia has made a big committment to participate in the TCR race series, but at the end of the contract, these Meganes will be history |
Nissan's contribution to downsizing will include cutting its number of global models from 69 to less than 50. Renault will axe 14,600 jobs, and 1000 of those will be from global regional markets - and that once again puts Renault Australia on shaky ground.
Losing Renault from the Down Under market would be a shame - they are great cars |
What this country needs is another 1000 Francophiles to buy Renaults in the next six months.
Guess what, it ain't gonna happen.
So, Renault staff, make sure you have a cardboard box handy, ready to pack up your desk!
John Crawford
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