Renault mulling the introduction of a high-end brand

Renault mulling the introduction of a high-end brandSegmentation is turning out to be very much the in-thing these days – if you want to move up or down in terms of portfolio, bringing about a new sub-brand is the surest and quickest way to go, it seems.

French automaker Renault is the latest to look at the option. According to French publication Les Echos, the company is mulling the introduction of a high-end brand, Initial Paris, to help expand its market offerings and reach, using Mercedes-Benz platforms.

The newspaper, which cited Renault’s COO Carlos Tavares in its report, said that the automaker is looking to make a decision on the expansion – as well as a possible move to resurrect its Alpine sports range – by the end of the year.

Renault would be the mass market brand, Dacia would sell low-cost models, while the Initial Paris and Alpine sub brands would fulfill the growing demand for upmarket and sporty models. Ah well, the more, the merrier.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • Means Renault is not a premium brand now? They can hardly survive these days excpet for Renault Clio but still they can’t sell in high numbers. Sounds like another MAS… Sigh! They just need to follow into Peugeot or even Volkswagen’s footsteps and make cars in various categories from 2-door to sedan to MPV and sports coupe. What are they exactly thinking?

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  • wolfsburg on May 24, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    Not a brilliant move… They already have Infiniti and the brand is still struggling in Europe. If they introduce another premium brand it seems quite funny. Most people don’t really appreciate premium car from the French. Citroen C6, Peugeot 607 and Renault Vel Satis were poorly fared. Maybe they should focus on expanding the Dacia brand which will likely to contribute more to their sales rather than throwing a lot of money into another premium brand.

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  • The Renault-Alpine A310 was really a nice car in it’s days:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_A310

    In Europe it was a success as it was cheaper than a Porsche and nicer & faster than the japanese competitors.

    But nowadays Nissan belongs to Renault already?

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  • Jaybond on May 24, 2012 at 9:04 pm

    I think Citroen recent foray into the premium segment (at least for compact premium segment) is quite well received. What Renault should do is to create a solid & usable premium car with French (attractive) styling, not the quirky one.

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