Renault have long been out of the Chinese market, Renault initially had a joint venture with SanJiang where the Renault Traffic was made. The JV was not successful but SanJiang was taken over the larger Dongfeng, meaning that Renault and Dongfeng can go ahead with producing cars in China thanks to the original agreement with Sanjiang, nonetheless Dongfeng have applied for official approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) with automotive pundits guessing that the official approval will come in the first quarter of 2013. So far Renault have been importing into China with Korean made Renault’s that come down the Samsung production lines, pricing is relatively competitive with local manufacturers but of course with lower prices you have greater competitiveness.

Renault and Dongfeng are expected to invest 7.2 billion RMB in the new factory with work beginning on March 20th and the first Chinese made Renault’s seeing production lines in 2015. Chinese media commented anonymous sources that stated the new factory will focus on producing SUV and MPV ranges before moving onto other models.