AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)09/08 Report--

The share of French cars in China's auto market fell to 0.7% in 2019, a new low, compared with 1.7% last year. Sales of French car companies represented by PSA Group plummeted, and Renault, another French giant, also fell into the doldrums and almost disappeared from our field of vision.

As for the current situation of Renault, Fulan, senior vice president and chairman of Renault Group at the Chengdu Auto Show, said in an interview with the media, "the biggest challenge Renault faces in the Chinese market is not product problems, but popularity." He also believes that Renault is just in its infancy in the Chinese market and that the brand lacks appeal to young Chinese consumers.

From Renault's point of view, the low sense of brand presence is the main reason for the sharp decline in sales. Renault has started again in the domestic market for less than four years, and the joint venture Dongfeng Renault was officially put into production in the first half of 2016. in terms of time, Renault lacks brand story, brand image and consumer recognition. Due to the weak brand, less model layout, lack of product competitiveness, and the cold winter of the car market, Renault suffered a big decline in sales.

Dongfeng Renault Automobile Co., Ltd. is a joint venture vehicle production enterprise established by Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. and France Renault Automobile Co., Ltd. according to 50:50 equity proportion on the basis of the reorganization of Sanjiang Renault Automobile Co., Ltd. The Dongfeng Renault vehicle plant, located in Wuhan, has launched two SUV models that went on sale in 2016, namely the Correa and Correa, with some of the technology shared with Dongfeng Nissan.

Since the launch of domestic models, Dongfeng Renault has ushered in a high-profile moment as a new brand, with sales reaching 36525 in 2016 and jumping to 72000 in 2017.

However, as the Chinese auto market entered a continuous decline, Renault brand and product problems were gradually exposed. Dongfeng Renault obviously stalled in 2018, and sales fell to 50,000 vehicles that year. Entering 2019, the market competition is intensifying day by day, and Dongfeng Renault is falling off the cliff. In the past August, Dongfeng Renault sales were only 1050, down 64% from a year earlier, and the cumulative sales from January to August this year were about 11300, down 73.27% from a year earlier, which can be called a precipice decline.

Due to the long-standing problem of product vacancy, Renault finally brought two new products at this year's Chengdu auto show, including the announced launch of Dongfeng Renault pure electric model Eno, and the domestic small SUV Corey, which will be launched in the fourth quarter. Mr Forlan said that our two newly released models will help Renault increase brand awareness.

In the face of falling sales, Dongfeng Renault has issued two executive appointments since 2019. On April 1, Dongfeng Renault hired GE Shuwen, who once worked in Audi China, as president of Dongfeng Renault Motor Co., Ltd. and vice president of strategic coordination of Renault Group in China, seeking to reverse the declining performance of the Chinese market. GE Shuwen has successively served as Vice President of Audi China sales, General Manager of Audi Malaysia, Executive Vice President of FAW-Volkswagen Audi sales Division, and General Manager of FAW car sales Co., Ltd.

On July 7, Dongfeng Renault officially announced that Wei Wenqing would be the director and executive vice president of Dongfeng Renault Motor Co., Ltd. Wei Wenqing, who has more than 30 years of experience in the automotive industry, joined DPCA in 1995 and served as the main person in charge of many departments. including the Minister of production, Deputy General Manager of Dongfeng Citroen Commercial Department, General Manager and Deputy Commercial General Manager of Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd., he joined Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. in 2014, he has served as Deputy Minister of Strategic Planning, Deputy Chief engineer and General Manager of Management Department.

Dongfeng Renault said that Wei Wenqing will work with Dr. GE Shuwen to promote the overall development and all-round progress of Dongfeng Renault's business.

At present, Dongfeng Renault is facing greater market pressure, in addition to a sharp drop in sales, brand awareness is not high, product competitiveness is insufficient, marketing publicity is also very lack. Last year, Dongfeng Renault said in a "letter to national distributor partners"-- "the Renault brand entered the Chinese market relatively late and was still weak in terms of brand influence and product line. Our system competitiveness still has an obvious gap compared with the industry benchmark."

The current situation of Dongfeng Renault is sad, even if there is a big change of front-line management, the problems existing in the brand can not be solved in a short time, facing the pressure of survival in the current stock competition in the car market, and there is a long way to go for development.

The problem of French cars falling into a development dilemma in China has been particularly prominent in the past two years. Data show that DPCA sold about 81000 cars from January to August this year, down 56.68% from a year earlier, compared with more than 700000 in 2015. The DS brand of Changan Peugeot-Citroen sold only 1841 vehicles from January to July this year, down 16.1 per cent from a year earlier.

The remaining 0.7% of the new car market share, French cars have almost no way out, including Renault, do not stop losses in time, have to face the serious problem of withdrawing from the Chinese market.

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