After a first semester literally disastrous, which saw Renault register a record loss of 7 billion euros, things for the French automaker seem to be going slightly better in the third quarter, the summer one, what it has seen entry into office from 1 July of the new managing director, the Milanese Luca De Meo. His appointment convinced the markets right from the start, so much so that even today, after the publication of a quarterly report which nonetheless shows a drop in turnover of 8,2%, Renault stock manages to gain more than 2% on the Paris Stock Exchange. The French company's press release explains why: the new strategy is all about profits and no longer about volumes. So sales have fallen in the last three months by 6,1% (while the world car market stopped at -4%), i.e. by around 800.000 vehicles, but this is largely explained by the flop of Brazil (-50%) .
In fact, De Meo immediately let it be understood that the priority will no longer be to sell everywhere, but some markets (such as Brazil) must be sacrificed to concentrate on the areas and activities with the greatest margins. Thus, after the French one, the Russian one was confirmed as the second market, growing by 4,5% in the quarter, while in Turkey there was even a boom of +131%. But it is precisely in Europe where the most encouraging signs are noticed: in a very fragmented market and in great crisis like the continental one, Renault lost less than others (sales -2,9%), even managing to increase its market share by 0,2 points to 10,3%. In France, Renault managed to increase sales in the summer period, by 2,7%.
Another reason to trust is the exploit registered by the electric model Zoe, which is increasingly confirmed as the best-selling electric car in Europe, largely ahead of the Tesla Model 3: in the quarter considered, the jewel of the French company recorded a +157% of sales in Europe (+27.000 vehicles) compared to the same period of the previous year, all despite the coronavirus crisis and despite the increase in sales of 100% electric cars being "only" 107% in the old continent. This result it is not only important from a commercial point of view: the share of green cars sold will in fact allow Renault to avoid the Brussels fine for CO2 emissions at the end of the year.
In short, it seems that Renault is getting back on track, just as rival PSA Peugeot is about to marry FCA. Among other things, this operation will force the group now led by De Meo to close production of the Fiat Talento utility car, which since 2016 has been packaged in the historic Sandouville plant. De Meo's revolution has just begun and started a month ago with the presentation of the new industrial plan, which aims to enhance the brands and products and no longer divides the business into territorial areas. And then there's the great bet of Formula 1, where the historic Alpine team is back to compete: driving one of the two single-seaters entered in the 2021 World Championship will be the former Ferrari driver and world champion Fernando Alonso.
