Steve Gowler, managing director of RCI
Financial Services (RCI FS), has predicted Renault UK will still
sell a healthy volume of cars this year, despite
massive restructure of its retail network.
Talking to Motor Finance, Gowler,
said the downsizing of the retail operation by a third was a
“headline number” and “the big story is, this year, Renault UK are
going to sell 55,000 cars.”
Go deeper with GlobalData
Renault has seen declining new car sales since
2010, the last year the French marque outsold its Alliance partner
Nissan in the UK, from 95,608 to 68,449 units in 2011. In the year
to May, the brand has sold 16,476 units, according to figures from
the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
All else being equal, given
the SMMT revised prediction of 1.95m new UK car sales in 2012,
Renault’s performance so far would give them around 37,000 new
registrations alone.
After which, 2013 would see increased business
for Gowler and RCI FS, the UK subsidiary of the Renault-Nissan
Alliance global finance partner RCI Banque, with “Renault volumes
coming back, particularly in retail.”
Sales and sustainability
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By GlobalDataGowler said he believed Renault UK would meet
the expectation of managing director Thierry Sybord that sales next
year would surpass 2011 levels and return with “a more sustainable
model.”
This will include the UK launch of the first
models from Dacia, the Romanian carmaker under the Renault
umbrella, the Clio 4 and Zoe electric vehicles (EVs).
“We have to look at sales channels,” added
Gowler. “The main volume reductions have been from channels we
don’t penetrate: Motability, rental and fleet.”
Gowler said the decision to restructure meant
2012 would see “a slight standstill in terms of volume” for RCI FS
which has nonetheless seen
financing grow by 12% year-on-year in the first quarter of
2012, on a par with
global growth in Renault Group finance.
“We’ll see new contracts at retail shrink by
10,000 but that’s balanced by the growth in Nissan sales and having
a different mix.”
A full interview with Steve Gowler will be
published in
the June issue of
Motor Finance
magazine.
richard.brown@vrlfinancialnews.com
