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"There are no more excuses," says Renault Australia managing director Rudi Koenig.
After almost 10 years in the wilderness Renault is finally mustering its mojo.
The company is planning a long-needed product offensive over the next 12 months to reverse sales and finally entrench the importer as a fully fledged European competitor. Renault Australia managing director Rudi Koenig is blunt in his assessment of the French brand's performance in recent years, blaming a lack of product and prices.
"There are no more excuses," he says. "For the first time certainly within my tenure with Renault, we are bringing in serious product."
When it launched back in 2000, the French carmaker boldly forecast sales of upwards of 6000 within the first couple of years. However, sales peaked in 2002 at more than 4500 and since then have hovered below 3500 despite a $20 million advertising spend in the early days to put its cars on buyers' radar.
Last year it sold 2400 vehicles, down 24 per cent compared to 2008. Koenig is confident the company can improve this year but is not predicting wild numbers.
"The arrival of our new vehicles this year won't do much for sales because most of them arrive late in the year," he says.
First up is the 2010 update for the Koleos in May, which gets satellite navigation as standard and other cosmetic updates. In June the Kangoo multi-purpose wagon arrives, followed by the Trafic van in July.
The big hopes rest on the Megane hatch, which arrives in November, along with the Fluence sedan. However before the bread-and-butter hatch arrives the hot Megane RS250 hits showrooms in September and then a Megane Coupe-cabrio in October.
Koenig says the product offensive has come about because Renault Australia has been able to source new cars from lower cost countries outside France. The Megane will come from Turkey and the mid-size Fluence will be built in Korea, where the Koleos is built.
Renault sales peaked the in its first full year on sale in 2002 when 4565 vehicles were sold. Since then sales have hovered between 2400 and 3300, and are dependent on product launches.
The arrival of the Koleos has been a saviour. Last year it was responsible for almost half of total Renault sales.
