Paris (AFP)

A new electric R5 and a modernized Lada Niva, 500 million euros in additional savings and plans for Alpine: Renault on Thursday unveiled its roadmap to face the revolution in the automotive sector until 2025.

The group will launch 24 vehicles in the next five years and at least 10 electric vehicles, clearly repositioning each of its brands.

Renault in particular unveiled at a major press conference the first images of a new version of the R5, star of the 1970s, an "electric car at a price accessible to all", said Luca De Meo.

The Renault brand wants to position itself as the "new wave" of the automotive industry, a high-tech brand collaborating with Google, with sales made up of 35% hybrids and 30% electric by 2025. prices are expected to increase by 7,000 euros per vehicle on average.

- Lada Niva and Alpine Lotus -

Economy brands Dacia and Lada will reduce their range from 18 body types to 11. Seven models will be launched by 2025, including a Dacia SUV and two new Lada Niva, the robust 4X4 emblematic of the Russian automotive industry .

Alpine, the group's sports brand, will aim to be competitive, but also profitable.

It will launch three new 100% electric vehicles based on the Renault-Nissan Alliance platforms: a small sports car, a "crossover" (SUV-type body based on a classic car), and an exclusive car with the British brand Lotus.

From a strategic point of view, Managing Director Luca De Meo confirmed Renault's about-face with respect to the objectives of his predecessor Carlos Ghosn.

Targeting 5 million vehicles sold in 100 countries "may have been an appropriate goal five years ago, but it clearly failed," said De Meo, who arrived in May.

"It is as if a car is getting too big for its engine."

Renault now plans to produce 3.1 million units in 2025 and will focus on "high margin" markets, particularly in Latin America, India and Korea, and strengthen its presence in Spain, Morocco, Romania , Turkey and Russia.

The group's new brand of mobility services, Mobilize, will offer four vehicles adapted to motorists who "no longer want to buy a car," said Clotilde Delbos, the group's deputy general manager: a two-seater vehicle and the Dacia Spring, a new vehicle developed for VTCs, and another for "last mile" delivery.

Mobilize aims to generate 20% of the group's revenues by 2030, through partnerships and new financing solutions such as subscription.

- Straighten the margins -

After announcing at the end of May a savings plan of more than 2 billion euros over three years, providing for some 15,000 job cuts worldwide, the group announced on Thursday a new cut in its budgets, notably for research, but not further layoffs.

Counting on its alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi, the Losange will also rationalize its production, going from eight to four families of engines, ranging from 45 to 400 horsepower, and from six to three platforms (chassis).

Its ultimate goal: 3% operating margin by 2023 and 5% margin by 2025.

Already in difficulty, the French group was hit hard by the consequences of the health crisis in 2020, losing 7.3 billion euros in the first half of the year alone.

Its sales fell 21.3% globally, with its brands being heavily exposed in countries that were most severely confined.

After a failed marriage with Fiat-Chrysler, which finally chose Peugeot-Citroën, Renault is also coming out of the scandal caused by the arrest and escape in Japan of its former CEO Carlos Ghosn, accused of financial embezzlement.

© 2021 AFP