Renault leverages Shanghai development centre for cars aimed at markets outside Europe

The Star

26-05-2025

French carmaker Renault Group is using its Chinese development centre to design new models aimed at markets beyond Europe, a senior executive said, as the company seeks to cut production costs and accelerate development by applying insights from the mainland market.
The company launched its Advanced China Development Centre (ACDC) in Shanghai last year, which employs around 200 people who are focused on developing electric vehicles (EVs) for the European market.
'ACDC is growing into a very important engineering centre, and we want it to work for the globe,' said Vincent Piquet, chief financial officer at Renault Group's EV division Ampere, in an interview last week.
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Piquet said the Shanghai operation was working on developing battery-powered models for Ampere and Renault to sell to markets outside Europe. Renault operates in more than 100 countries and regions worldwide, with a primary focus on Europe. Brazil and South Korea are also major markets for the company.
His comments came as the rise of Chinese EVs in Europe has forced the bloc's carmakers to re-evaluate their strategies for survival.
With support from the Shanghai operation, Renault developed a more affordable version of the electric Twingo car in just 21 months, significantly shorter than the previous three- to four-year cycle. Priced at less than €20,000 (US$22,646), the model is set for release in 2026 in Europe.
The Shanghai centre also allowed for the rapid production of a new EV for Renault's budget brand, Dacia, in just 16 months, the fastest development of a model in the group's history. The company expects its cheaper EVs to compete with BYD's Seagull and Nio's Firefly in the European market.
'Competition from China entering Europe forced us to rethink how we organise EV and software elements at Renault,' Piquet said. 'We concluded that we need a dedicated team focused solely on EV software to compete with emerging players from China by learning from China.
'We're not selling [these] cars in China, but we're leveraging the expertise and the Chinese ecosystem to be more competitive in Europe.'
With its Shanghai centre, Renault is seeking to cut costs for its next-generation EVs by 40 per cent by 2028. The company also planned to double its EV sales volume this year and double it again next year from less than 100,000 units last year, while further expanding the company's EV line-up to accelerate growth in the European market, he said.
The French carmaker said it was also in talks with several of its Chinese parts suppliers to help them set up in Europe. In 2022, Renault partnered with Minth Group, a Chinese automotive supplier, to establish a joint venture for producing battery casings in France; it began production in 2023.
'The barriers to entry and logistics costs make production in Europe more efficient, and we welcome the globalisation of the supply ecosystem, where Chinese companies play a key role,' Piquet said.
Having more global suppliers in Europe could increase competition among them and allow carmakers to reduce EV production costs, he said.
As Chinese EV brands gain traction in the global market with lower production costs, advanced batteries and intelligent features like smart cockpits, Western car giants are looking more at China's advancements in EV technologies.
In 2022, German auto giant Mercedes-Benz established a research centre in Shanghai focused on connectivity, autonomous driving and big data. China is also home to BMW's largest research and development network outside Germany.
China accounted for more than 60 per cent of the more than 17 million EVs sold globally last year – including pure EVs and plug-in hybrids – according to data provider Rho Motion. But Chinese EV manufacturers held single-digit market shares in most European markets, where carmakers like Volkswagen and Audi continued to dominate.
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