Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 26

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

TALK FROM THE TOP

Wise choice
Renault exec explains how taking a risk on subcompacts in Russia paid off

s head of product planning at the
Renault Group since October 2014,
Bruno Ancelin has to carefully orchestrate
how the company's models will be allocated in more than 100 global markets.
Ancelin said one of the best recent moves
Renault made was to bet on subcompact
sales rising in Russia rather than following rivals into the compact sector. The 35year Renault veteran explained why subcompacts are winning customers around
the world in an interview with Automotive
News Europe Correspondent Peter Sigal.
You have just finished a very successful product cycle at Renault
with the European introduction of
the Koleos and Alaskan. What have
you learned from that?
In the automotive industry, you are never finished. What we completed is the
deployment of the CMF [Common Module Family] platform that was developed
with Nissan for the renewal of the C- and
D-segments [compact and midsize segments] at Renault.
When are you introducing the CMF-B
platform for small cars like the Clio?
We are renewing the lineup in the usual
way, and CMF-B is part of the next product introductions.
Will you use the CMF-B platform for
Lada vehicles?
We are thinking about that. We would
like to standardize worldwide. The B
segment is really the heart of the market
for us. Just to give you an example, who
knew that sales of the fourth-generation
Clio would be continuing to grow five
years after we launched it in 2012? We
will continue to have big cars, big SUVs
and executive cars. But in terms of volumes, all the markets in the world are
converging with the B segment. Why?
Because of the price and because of
CO2 emissions requirements. In the
markets where we are, the B segment is
growing, whether it is high spec like in
Europe, or low spec as in Russia. As an
example, I was head of the Eurasia region for Renault and was based in Moscow for four years. When Russian buyers
coming from very old Moskvitches or La-

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das wanted to access the technology of
European cars, they went directly to the
B segment. The A segment is too small,
and the C segment is too expensive for
them. Many of our competitors bet on Csegment cars, and it was a big mistake.
We have done well in Russia because we
believed in the future of the B segment.
The B segment is not yet significant
in the United States.
It could come, maybe it will be significant in the next 20 to 30 years. But we
are not in the USA.
The minivan segments are getting
smaller in terms of volume in Europe. Subcompact minivans have
nearly disappeared. Why remain
in the compact minivan segment,
where you have introduced
the new Scenic?
Some customers remain in the
Meet the
C segment, but not many. As a
planning boss
journalist, you might compare
sales of the fourth-generation
❚ NAME: Bruno Ancelin
Scenic with the third-generation
❚ T
ITLE: Renault Group
model, but from the viewpoint
Executive Vice President for
of the manufacturer, we comProduct Planning and Programs
pare what we are selling with
what we forecast. We invested
❚ AGE: 59
for a capacity, so we ask: Is
❚ M
AIN CHALLENGE:
this capacity well used or not?
Continuing to lure customers
We are reasonably happy with
and earn profits in Europe's
that. We made the choice to
shrinking minivan segments.
continue to be present in that
sub-segment [compact minivan]. Even if that segment has
What will happen with the powertrain
significantly decreased, which is true, the mix in the years to come?
competitors, many of them, are now out Gasoline alone is not sufficient to meet
of this sub-segment. We don't make a the regulations, so we have to electrify.
product plan through emotions. We make Some competitors have announced
it through studies and figures. If a sub-seg- that 100 percent of their lineups will be
ment continues to exist, and we are alone
electric or at least electrified in the next
in that sub-segment, that's wonderful.
few years. We will be aligned with what
What is the future of diesel for small the competition is saying. We were the
cars in Europe?
pioneers of the electric vehicle and
I can remember when we suffered a bit through that, we learned a lot, including
during the ramp-up of diesel in the late how to reduce the cost of components.
1990s and early 2000s, when we went The goal of Euro 7 emissions standards
from about 10 percent diesel up to 75 that will be applied starting in 2024 is
percent at Renault. We were hunting for to unify the emissions between gasoparts for diesel engines. Now it's the op- line and diesel and that will increase
posite, but that's life in the auto industry. the cost of diesels. ANE

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