WSJ: Renault pondering return to North America
Dacia Duster - Click above for high-res image gallery
Renault hasn't been in the US market since 1987, the year the Alliance and the Encore stopped trickling out of AMC factories. Few have missed the French automaker's presence since it left our shores, though many thought the doors would once again open to the land of opportunity once Nissan was in the fold. That hasn't happened so far, but a story in The Wall Street Journal shows that Renault is at least thinking about once again coming Stateside to sell cars and SUVs. Gerard Detourbet, head of Renault's entry-level vehicle division, told WSJ that the company is studying a move to North America, and the vehicle that could influence the decision is the low-cost Duster SUV.
The Duster, which for now is being build by Dacia in Romania, will eventually be sold as a Renault once production ramps up. If the apparently capable Duster is a success in emerging markets like South America and Eastern Europe, there could be a chance Renault would give the mini ute a chance in the U.S. But Detourbet reportedly doesn't see Renault entering the U.S. market with just one vehicle like it did with the Alliance in late 1982, instead favoring a family of affordable vehicles as the best approach. And with Renault's Logan line already established in many parts of the world, the budget-minded nameplate could be reworked for U.S. duty at some point in the future.
While it's nice to hear that Renault is at least considering a return to America, we're not all that hopeful that anything will happen within the next three to five years. Besides, once the Duster is retrofitted for U.S. duty it'll probably be heavier, more expensive and overwhelmingly diesel-less.
Gallery: Dacia Duster 4x4
[Source: Wall Street Journal - Sub's Req'd]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
BLS 9:34AM (12/10/2009)
Hook me up with a Kangoo Be Bop.
Reply
ThreePedals 9:39AM (12/10/2009)
I'll take one of those RenaultSport hot hatch doo-hickeys. Any one of them.
Reply
dasupersprint91 9:48AM (12/10/2009)
I dream of a day when everything will be available here.
Reply
psyvicpeng 10:16AM (12/10/2009)
I see renaults all the time here in the US. In San Diego, we see them from Mexico....
http://www.renault.com.mx/web/
bssplayr 9:48AM (12/10/2009)
...because, of course, North America needs yet another SUV on the market. Don't get me wrong, I'm not an SUV hater or anything - but really, do we need ANOTHER one?
...and I'm betting that it won't be a particularly good marketing move to call it 'Duster' over here (although, I'd suspect it'd be under a different name anyway, since the article says that Renault wants to bring it here, not Dacia). Mopar guys would go absolutely nuts if they did.
Reply
Kitko 12:12PM (12/10/2009)
It's not a question of SUVs, it's a question of whether America needs another crap cars. People may like or dislike styling, they may fall for hot hatches, but do you really need a hot hatch with a bonnet wildly vibrating at 130 km/h on a smooth surface?
Renaults are amongst the least reliable cars on the European market and I don't really think folks stateside need them.
Here's link for google tx of 2009 TUV reliability report. Based on 7 million actual technical inspection of real-world cars.
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=cs&u=http://news.auto.cz/aktuality/auto-bild-tuv-report-2009-vozy-2-3-roky-verso-toyota-corolla.html&ei=BSshS4W3BJGk4QavhJ3mCQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAwQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3D2009%2BTUV%2Bsite:auto.cz%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DyKS
ack154 9:50AM (12/10/2009)
Twingo Sport or Gordini RS for me please!
Reply
Jeff Banks 1:12PM (12/10/2009)
"Hey guys, let's start selling our product in America"
"Alright, sounds good. Should we copy Fiat and send one of our well-developed hot hatches? Just to to test the waters, you know"
"No, to Americans Renault means badly-built 80's cars. We need to keep that image."
Luis 9:52AM (12/10/2009)
Americans aren't sophisticated enough to appreciate French cars. Man, I could just see all the right-wing pols trying to get Renault to build a plant in their southern state, but only if they sell Freedom Fries in the cafeteria!
Reply
JimBob 10:24AM (12/10/2009)
Please explain what part of the pictured Duster screams "sophistication".
Also, since you seem to imply that you do not belong to this subset of unsophisticated plebes, I'm curious as to why you would try to appeal to that exact group through your trite evocation of "Freedom Fries".
Irony is spelled with an "I", my friend.
Achtun Dumkopf 11:59AM (12/10/2009)
Luis,
Why do you feel compelled to display your ignorance on a daily basis?
Polly Prissy Pants 12:17PM (12/10/2009)
Having lived through the eras of Peugeot and Renault here in America I can appreciate French cars for the magnificent pieces of crap they are/were. If Renault wants to try selling cars here again they're going to need to wait until everyone of driving age in 1987 is dead.
Luis 12:36PM (12/10/2009)
"Why do you feel compelled to display your ignorance on a daily basis?"
Ignorance?
Okay, so Ohio isn't a southern state...even though parts of it are more southern than Virginia.
"It was only four years ago that Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and Walter Jones (R-NC) announced the official name change in Congressional cafeterias from French fries and French toast to Freedom Fries and Freedom Toast."
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/freedom-fries/
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/12/national/12FRIE.html
"Of Russia, China and France, the three nations threatening to veto a United Nations resolution urging war with Iraq, France has been the most unequivocal in its opposition, which is why the French have aroused the ire of House Republicans."
Yet Republicans will be the first to toss taxpayer dollars at foreign automakers to lure transplant factories to their states.
You sir, are the ignoramus.
Reinhart 6:54PM (12/10/2009)
"Americans aren't sophisticated enough to appreciate French cars."
You jest.
About the only sophisticated French cars would be those from Citroën, and those guys don't have any plans at all to sell their cars here in the U.S.A. As much as I like the C5, I'm not going to see one driving up and down I-95 anytime soon.
And, there are Americans, me included, who are sophisticated enough to appreciate GERMAN cars, which are in a class well above French cars.
As much as I like the Citroën C5, I'd much rather have an Audi A6.
kjik8550 2:31AM (2/01/2010)
Cleanse yourself from the gene pool, dolt.
jamie 9:55AM (12/10/2009)
What with Lotus stealing the Stealth nameplate from Dodge, and now Renault & Co borrowing heavily from Plymouth with the Duster moniker, I wouldn't be surprised if Chrysler eventually does merge with Renault/Nissan and bring Lotus in along for the ride. How else can those companies avoid serious litigation problems?
Just think...Ghosn and Marchionne sitting at the same table. Good, or not so good?
Reply
ScentOfUnderstanding 10:16AM (12/10/2009)
I'm not sure "borrowing heavily" is really an appropriate description. They're just using the same name.
Also, even if they did decide that using the 'Duster' name in the US is important [hint: it's not], that wouldn't really necessitate a merger of Chrysler/Fiat and Renault/Nissan, now would it? I think they could figure out another way to avoid litigation.
jamie 11:14AM (12/10/2009)
The tendency to exaggerate is one of my finer qualities. I am glad you can see through it though.
mallthus 4:33PM (12/11/2009)
"Just think...Ghosn and Marchionne sitting at the same table. Good, or not so good?"
Their egos wouldn't fit in any enclosed space except, maybe, the new Cowboys Stadium (and that'd only be after you got Jerry Jones' ego out of the way).
As to whether it would arrive with a diesel, I'd tend to think not as well unless (and it's a big unless) the new Mahindra SUV does really well (it being a "cheap" diesel and all).
And let's be fair to Renault and Peugeot both, although their last vehicles to grace our shores were utter heaps, they weren't any worse than what GM/Ford/Chrysler were putting out. They were just more unusual and that meant getting them repaired was more difficult/expensive.
Off topic rant: I'd actually love to have the Peugeot 505 GTD wagon my friend used to have. It was like a minivan, except it rode nicely and got great mileage!
Avinash machado 10:00AM (12/10/2009)
Maybe this why Renault did not want to supply Roger Penske with cars for him to sell through the Saturn network.
Reply