At the end of May, Renault will present a drastic savings plan of 2 billion euros over three years. It would include a major overhaul of its range of models. According to Reuters, several emblematic vehicles of the diamond brand could disappear. "The whole project is not yet set in stone, but we can already remove the Space, the Scenic and the large Talisman sedan from the future product plan , " a source told Reuters.
If confirmed, such a decision would make noise. With Espace, Renault had been the forerunner of minivans in 1984. But the latest version, launched in 2015, did not meet the expected success, hit hard by the success of SUVs. Last year, less than 10,000 spaces were sold. The Scenic, another minivan, also suffers from the craze for SUVs. Finally, the non-renewal of the Talisman could mark the definitive exit of the brand with a diamond shape from the large sedan market. Conversely, the group should accelerate on SUVs, with the arrival of the Arkana, currently produced in Russia.
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The shutdown of these three models is likely to cause serious concern at the Douai plant, in the Nord department, where they are all three assembled today. The group's chief financial officer, Clotilde Delbos, who is acting interim general manager, had announced that there would be no taboo in the savings plan. The closure of a site in France while the group is negotiating French state aid, however, would not fail to make political waves.
