Diversified Growth

Renault Trucks recently held a virtual press conference to talk about the past year, their performance, and how the company is also focusing its interest on refurbishing trucks and strengthening electromobility to align the company’s future to be in tune with environmental protection. Plant & Equipment brings you the details from the event.

Back in the days when the pandemic was not a part of our lives, Renault Trucks used to organize a multitude of events such as Experience Days for customers, prospects and partners to get a real look and feel of their trucks. Today, virtual is our reality, hence the French manufacturer organised an online official press conference to announce the company’s activities during the past year, its modus operandi during the pandemic, as well as how it actually fared in numbers.

Cautious optimism is the attitude the company is adopting as the current situation moves into another year. A positive indicator is worth noting for 2020, in that Renault Trucks recorded a 12 percent increase in orders compared to 2019. Along with manufacturing and selling state-of-the-art, sturdy, value for money trucks, Renault is also investing time and money on refurbishing used trucks for which there is a very big market. Renaults trucks’ upcycling factory in Bourg-en-Bresse, France, transforms used trucks as per market demand. “This factory ran full speed in 2020, we transformed 500 used trucks. We have also launched new models like the T X-64 for Africa and the Middle East which is our contribution to compete with all the Chinese players there,” says Bruno Blin, President Renault Trucks. The company is also focused on making their entire offering electric, carbon neutral using fossil fuels in the next 30 years.

Europe market

The region that was the best in terms of numbers for Renault last year was Europe. Initially during the early days of the pandemic, Renault complied with the orders of the French government and closed four of its plants in France on March 18, 2020; work resumed a month later on April 23. There was a definite decline in business, however it was in accordance with global transportation numbers; for Renault it was a reduction by 24 percent to 41,117 vehicles.

Renault maintained a clear leadership in France with a market share of 28.3 percent, up by 0.6 percent. In the Eastern European countries such as Hungary and Romania, spare parts volumes decreased by 13 percent - again consistent with the drastic decrease of the transport situation - so the company offered a predictive maintenance option to its clients in this region (not available everywhere in Europe) that 2021 new components would be added to their purchases and a remote software updating service would also be included in the package. “We are working very hard to bring serenity to our customers,” says Blin.

International market

Truck deliveries in the international market increased by 16 percent with more than 4,000 trucks delivered in Algeria. “We have seen a recovery with 1,100 trucks invoiced representing an increase of 80 percent as compared to 2019. Unfortunately, 2021 remains very uncertain in Algeria because of the ongoing change in its import regulations,” added Blin.

In Guinea in Sub-Saharan Africa, Renault performed well as well as in Senegal. Here Renault offers a dedicated range of used vehicles (Renault Trucks T X-Port and T X-64, converted at the Used Trucks Factory). Renault Trucks also sells a special extra-safe edition of its K range on these markets, the Renault Trucks K Safety Edition.

Renault saw a strong increase of deliveries in Turkey with more than 1,000 vehicles in 2020, which is a 66 percent increase in what is a very fast-growing market. In Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Renault performed the best in 2020 as compared to the other countries in the Middle East.

Fossil free transportation

One of the manufacturer’s top priority is to develop products and solutions that reduce their CO2 footprint in order to be in line with the Paris agreement. The company plans to be carbon neutral at the latest by 2050. “Our trucks last around 10 years, which means from 2040 we need to ship 100 percent of our trucks as fossil free,” he adds. The share of the combustion engine will decrease progressively, but market share is poised to remain on combustion engines for specific and highly demanding applications.

The company sees two different technologies when it comes to energy storage in electric vehicles - batteries and fuel cells. “We don’t know exactly what will be the mix between those two technologies but we believe that both technologies will play a major role in the future so transformation has already started at Renault trucks.”

Transport luminaries have come together to form an organisation to be mutually beneficial in terms of future technology called Volvo Energy. This new entity has the responsibility to provide an optimized usage of battery and charging solutions for all the partners in this organisation. Daimler in a joint venture will develop and produce commercialized fuel cells. Renault has also built a strategic alliance with Samsung that will cover the development of battery packs.

Renault is already leading in the production of medium duty electric trucks which are being used by customers in the distribution, waste collection and recycling segments. The French manufacturer continues to roll out electrification of its brands in all relevant segments to cover the entire market one step at a time.

Electric vehicles are a key cornerstone of Renault’s strategy. The company is aiming for 10 percent of all total volume produced by 2025 to be electric trucks and 35 percent by 2030. The company is setting up a new commercial organization dedicated to electric mobility in order to accelerate and support their customers in their energy transition. “We are investing €33 million in Lyon for an R&D center called X Tech Arena. This new building will host engineers who will work on the technical solution for the future,” concludes Blin.