Renault-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn says his firm will make Lada a "strong and attractive brand" as their recent alliance develops.Renault paid between £750m and £1bn for a 25 per cent stake in Avtovaz, Lada's parent company, back in December. But Ghosn has since stated that it does not want to take control, and that the arrangement is a "partnership". "The development of the Lada brand will be a priority," he saidThe deal could have benefits for both sides. It gives Avtovaz badly-needed access to more modern designs and technology - the firm has been fighting a losing battle against imports over the last 20 years - and it gives Renault a valuable foothold in a rapidly expanding market. Some industry analysts believe that Renault will aim to turn the Lada brand into another version of Dacia. It bought the struggling Romanian car maker that it bought outright in 1998, but it is now on course to sell a million of its low-cost Logans worldwide by 2010. Future Ladas could incorporate slightly older Renault tech and the strength of the firm's name might allow it to not only resist imports at home, but also increase its export potential across Europe.However, another industry expert told Autocar, "Ghosn's comments are a political gesture to Avtovaz, to show respect, keep workers calm and please the politicians. It's hard to see how Renault needs another budget brand on top of Dacia."
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Re: Ghosn: "Promoting Lada is a priority"
I would not call the Citroen range impressive, they too have too many cars in the lineup, that are just dull. But if we look at the Renault range, I don`t think the cars are the real problems, I mean the way they look, I think it`s scarry that they don`t have any engines except maybe the 2 litre diesel that impresses anyone. All the gasoline engines are old and tired, here they really need to improve. Or how about some technology like BMW efficient dynamics, something in that area would get the brand rolling again. But no, lets invest the money in Lada or Dacia instead of in technology, I don`t see the point. Because with cheap cars you also want to raise their selling price to make more profit, just like they`ve done with any other brand. And how do you raise the profit of the cars? You have to invest in technology to make people want the new cars instead of keeping their old ones. I don´t even see the point in buying a new Renault, because the new ones have the same technology as the ones that are 5 years old. Since the Laguna2 nothing happened at Renault, all the cars now have the same stuff build into them as that piece of technology. Even the Laguna3 is the same car, same electronics, the same faults as the Laguna 2, they haven`t really improved anything but maybe the quality, but that is not enough for me to open my pocket. And I bet the new Megane will be the same car as the old one, just a different package, but everything else the same, not enough to spend my money-
Re: Ghosn: "Promoting Lada is a priority"
Never mind papa, give me the girl.
Re: Ghosn: "Promoting Lada is a priority"
I'm with Velsatis23 on this.
Can Renault really make a success of Lada in the same way VW has with Skoda?
They have had major issues for as long as I can remember with longevity of electrics and general robustness of engineering, while as Velsatis23 has pointed out, losing market share.