Some day in the future, Renault will build up its Chinese operations by making full use of the facilities and experience of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. in China, reiterated Renault Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn.
To Carlos Ghosn, opportunity has come for the local production of Renault, because the imported car models of the automobile giant sold well in the country last year.
Meanwhile, its joint venture Sanjiang Renault Automotive Company (SRAC) with China Sanjiang Space Group is likely to resume production as earliest as the second half of 2010.
The venture will introduce Renault's new-generation commercial vehicle New Master, designed with production capacity of 20,000 to 30,000 vehicles per year.
Renault and Sanjiang established SRAC in 1994 with a total investment of USD 98 million. It was under the spotlight as China's largest civil aviation venture and Renault's sole light-duty coach venture in the country.
Because of disharmony in the cooperation of both sides, SRAC only sold over 4,000 Trafic-branded coaches in eight years. Although its Chinese shareholder changed for two times, the venture unavoidably suspended production in 2004.
Since Renault's image was greatly damaged by the failure of SRAC, its anaphase plan for the joint production of passenger cars in China encountered setbacks. Hence, the auto giant plans to restart the local production of passenger cars through the resumption of SRAC.
In mid February, Carlos Ghosn disclosed that Renault would make full use of existing suppliers, dealers and production bases of Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company in the local production of SRAC.
There are also rampant talks saying that Dongfeng Nissan Former General Manager Toshiaki Ootani planned a new plant with production capacity of 300,000 vehicles a year, which will produce car models for Renault.
Nissan reveals that Renault Nissan will build a production base in China in the future three years, designed with an output of 1 million vehicles per year. 30% of its products will be Renault-branded vehicles.
However, a top executive of Dongfeng Nissan totally denies the saying. According to him, Toshiaki Ootani had no such plan. The brand director of Nissan (China) Investment Co., Ltd. says she has not heard any news relating to Renault's using of Nissan's facilities for its local production.
A top executive of Renault's Chinese operations in charge of public relations declines to make comments on the story, only saying that the local production of Renault is the plan of its French headquarters.
