Sources from the Renault-Nissan Alliance said that Katsumi Nakamura, Asia-Africa chairman of Renault SA, at present still a marginal player in China's automotive market, has been named as executive vice president of the company to lead China operations. With the appointment, Nakamura fulfilled his commitment of returning to China, a commitment he made in 2008 when he went to Paris to assume the Asia-Africa chairman role.
The French car maker is on track to officially start its localization scheme in April at the Beijing Motor Show, during which Carlos Ghosn, CEO of the Alliance, will visit China and disclose details of the scheme, including information about Dongfeng Renault’s first car, scheduled for release in 2014, and proprietary models to be produced in a joint venture. Currently, the localization scheme is likely to be carried out through the Dongfeng Fengshen Plant in Wuhan as Renault and Dongfeng have no plans to invest and build a new site. Moreover, Renault and Dongfeng-Fengshen will set up a joint sales company later on. The scheme is now subject to Chinese regulatory approval.
In addition to the personnel shake-up, Renault is preparing for deployment of its sales network in China. At present, the French carmaker has 80 dealerships across the country, and the figure is expected to increase to 115 by the end of the year. Second and third-tier cities are slated to be part of its business footprint.
In order to minimize the risks of localization, Renault China has been speeding up its pace of introduction and sale of new products for the past two years. In 2011, Renault introduced 7 new models, in a move to identify market potential and select the right models for localized production. However, the carmaker needs to take into account the eventuality of brand overlap with Nissan products, industry analysts said.
