RENAULT IS aiming to go beyond its target of cutting stocks of unsold cars by between €800 million and €1 billion this year, chief operating officer Patrick Pelata said yesterday.
The company set the target last month, as it scrapped its 2009 profit targets and dropped its dividend after posting a 78 per cent drop in 2008 net profit.
Pelata said Renault hoped to increase market share in France this year, once “stocks have been purged by all manufacturers [and] when the market stabilises”.
In the context of plunging car markets worldwide, Renault is seeing some benefits from government schemes to encourage drivers to trade in old cars for new models, Pelata said.
In Germany, Renault is seeing “enormous growth - the problem is delivering Clios, Twingos, Sanderos and Meganes”, Pelata said. He added that production was ramping up at its Flins plant in France and its Pitesti site in Romania to meet demand.
The group is also drastically rethinking its strategy for distributing new vehicles, moving towards a system that relies more heavily on a “build-to-order” instead of a “build-to-stock”strategy.
Dealers may have to wait a few weeks for new cars under the build-to-order system, but are able to set out the specifications they want, Pelata said. He added that the company’s aim was to become more reactive and avoid having stocks of ageing vehicles.