Renault Koleos entering China

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The Renault Kaleos is Renaults version of the Nissan Qahsqai, a small city SUV built in partnership, riding on the same platform, sporting the same engines and gearboxes but different bodies. The Koleos will be Renaults first entry into the Chinese SUV market, and will give their small China ranage a welcome addition.

Currently all Renaults sold in China are imported from overseas, making Renault possibly the last major automanufacturer not to have a joint venture in China, although there have been many a rumor about a Renault-Dongfeng partnership, but these have stayed rumors.

The new Renault Laguna was also launched in China in late February, the Business Manager of Renault China, Mr. Chen Guo Zheng, was quoted in the Chinese press as saying:

Renaults dont sell extremely well in China, the main reason is that the brand is old, the service levels cant keep up, and spare parts are expensive. In the future are service levels will be improved, and our products will be improved”

Mr. Chen has only been on the job for 3 months, but he appears to have figured out what exactly is wrong with the Renault brand in China. On the branding side of things, Renault are pushing their brand into the ‘leisure’ area, rather than being ‘business’ ‘executive’ cars like the BMW 3 or 5 Series. According to Mr. Chen, Renault China have carried out market research about their current buyers in China, they have discovered that current Renault owners are well educated, and mostly have been educated overseas, which is probably why they are familiar with the Renault brand, as Renault advertising is as rarely seen as Renault automobiles. Renault have changed their service levels for the Laguna, with them offering a reasonable 3 year of 100,000km warranty on the motor.

Mr. Chen also claimed that the talks with Dongfeng are at a deep stage, and that Dongfeng is a critical partner of Renault.

The actual launch date of the Kaleos has not been announced, but it is expected that it will hit the PRC in 2009, prices have also not been announced, but it will most probably be in the 200,000rmb and up region.