Renault boss Carlos Ghosn on Kadjar, Alpine and more new models

Renault says it will launch five new cars in 2015. Announcing the move at the unveiling of the French firm’s new Kadjar SUV, Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn said Renault will bring a new A-segment car, a D-segment saloon and a new pick-up truck to market this year to join the already revealed Kadjar and Espace.

Renault’s plans to introduce a new, back-to-basics model in the same vein as the Citroën C4 Cactus were revealed in December with the Value Up concept car. Although at the time Renault said the model would not make it to production, it’s known that elements from the concept - 
including its new platform - could be used to inform the next generation of Renault’s A-segment city cars.

Any new model in the D-segment for Renault is likely to herald the return of the Laguna name. Previously, Renault officials have told Autocar that the next Laguna will come with “fluid and emotional” styling, echoing themes seen on the firm’s Captur, Clio, Twingo and Zoe.

The reinvented Espace was revealed at the Paris motor show in September last year, with the MPV morphing into more of a crossover shape. Although the car will be available in both five-seat and seven-seat guises, neither option will come to the UK in the short term.

Ghosn believes the Kadjar crossover, Renault’s version of the Nissan Qashqai, will give the Renault-Nissan Alliance “a scale advantage no one can match” once it reaches full production in Spain and China.

Speaking exclusively to Autocar after unveiling the Kadjar in Paris last week, Ghosn described the car as “an extremely strong product” and “a huge opportunity for Renault”. However, he was evasive about predicting the size of its success.

Could this become the 
best-selling Renault of all? 

“That’s hard to say. We’ve tested it with customers and distributors and the response has been extremely strong. It reminds us of the response we had to its sister, the Captur crossover, before that model went on sale. And as you know, Captur now leads its class in France and across Europe.

“What I can say is that Kadjar will be great at competing with our rivals. It shares a common platform with Qashqai, and this means we can compete with the world’s biggest car companies. Our competitiveness in terms of investment and parts cost should be close to the best.”

How important is the Kadjar’s styling to its success?

“It’s vital. This game will be played on the attractiveness of the product. We believe Kadjar has the same styling appeal as Captur, but we have no customers yet, so we can’t be certain. With Captur, we had very good feedback, but it was nothing compared with what we have achieved in sales.”

Do you believe the crossover market will last?

“It will remain strong. These models offer great versatility, and all our research tells us people really enjoy that. Whether the trend will last 10 or 15 years I can’t say, but for the foreseeable future — which means the next four or five years — we think demand will be strong, not just in Europe but around the world. Cars like these make up one sale in four across the world, and one in three in China.”

How are recent currency shifts affecting your companies?

“The volatility began two years ago, and the effect then was negative on both our revenues and our income. Even though the euro has recently moved ‘the right way’ against the pound and dollar, we’re still in adverse territory because of really large declines in Russia and Argentina.”

How bad are things in Russia?