Renault leverages Shanghai development centre for cars aimed at markets outside Europe
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.
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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2025: Japan's Kunimasa Aoki wins for striking terracotta sculpture exploring the tension between control and chaos, as the prize returns to Madrid
Now in its eighth year, the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize has established itself as one of the most prestigious accolades in contemporary craft, celebrating innovation and creativity across a range of disciplines including ceramics, jewellery, textiles and woodwork. Launched in 2016 by Jonathan Anderson , then-creative director of Spanish luxury house Loewe, the prize was created to elevate craft and honour the artisans shaping its future. Rooted in Loewe's beginnings as a Madrid workshop in 1846, it offers a global platform to contemporary makers. Thirty artists were shortlisted for the 2025 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize. Photo: Handout Advertisement 'It gives me such pleasure to see the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize provide a platform for extraordinary talent, and change the perception of craft internationally,' said Sheila Loewe, president of the Loewe Foundation and the fifth generation of the Loewe family to become part of the company, during a preview of the finalists' work. 'Over the past decade we have seen the prize transform lives, careers, and build a global community.' This year, the prize returned to Madrid – where the inaugural edition was held – after being hosted in cities including Seoul, New York and Paris. The 2025 finalists' works are currently on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum until June 29. At the opening ceremony on May 29, Japanese sculptor Kunimasa Aoki was named the winner of the 2025 edition for his work Realm of Living Things 19, receiving the €50,000 award (US$56,800). The winning art piece, Realm of Living Things 19, by Japanese sculptor Kunimasa Aoki. Photo: Handout Aoki's anamorphic terracotta sculpture explores the tension between control and chaos. Using stacked coils of clay compressed under gravity and fired to the brink of collapse, the piece is finished with soil and pencil marks that highlight its textured, organic surface. The jury praised the work for its 'honest expression of the ancestral coil process', noting how the piece's 'little universes' emerge through the raw compression of material. 'The element of risk in the firing process is a testimony to the tenacity and commitment it takes to make a sculpture such as this,' the jury said. For Sheila Loewe, the work exemplifies the values of the prize. 'The winning piece … you have to be the most skilled artist in the world to create this,' she said. 'It has everything. It has an ancient technique. It's updated. It's beautiful.' Nigerian designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello received a special mention for TM Bench with Bowl. Photo: Handout The jury also had two special mentions to award. Nigerian designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello was recognised for TM Bench with Bowl, a sculptural bench made from recycled aluminium that critiques global trade and consumerism. 'It felt like I was part of a very important cohort,' said Marcus-Bello at the press preview of the exhibition. 'I don't think I've been in a place where I've seen so many contemporary craftspeople in one place. It's usually a very small crowd of people. For me, when I walked through the exhibition, it felt like a tribe.'
South China Morning Post
4 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Land Rover Defender 2025 has new colours and driver safety feature, and sharper design
Land Rover has introduced a series of revisions for its popular Defender range. The off-roader now has a sharper exterior design with new front and rear lights, and the rear ones have a smoky design. There's a new textured pattern for the bonnet inserts and side vents, and gloss black Defender-branded hubcaps. New exterior colours have been added to the Defender's range, including Borasco Grey. The interior has been upgraded, too. A new 13.1-inch infotainment screen is slightly larger than the previous one and sits above the dash-mounted gear stick. The Land Rover Defender 2025 models have a bigger infotainment screen and redesigned centre console. Photo: Land Rover A redesigned centre console has a sliding section to keep valuables out of sight, while a Signature Suite pack can be added to include removable side pockets.
South China Morning Post
5 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Style Edit: The new Santos de Cartier Petit Modèle reanimates in mini form an iconic 1904 design that was the precursor of the modern wristwatch – one designed for early aviators
Cartier's latest watch is small, square and has pedigree, with its roots reaching far back in time. Showcasing the French jeweller's ingenuity , the new small model Santos de Cartier reanimates an emblematic design that has epitomised pioneering watchmaking since 1904. It was then that Louis Cartier and his friend, Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, conceived a wristwatch for early aeronauts that carried the pioneering pilot's name and afforded them precise timing in the cockpit at a glance, saving them from having to fish around in their jackets for their pocket watch. The Santos de Cartier small model in steel. Photo: Handout Considered the first modern wristwatch when offered to the public in 1911, the original Santos was as daring as those magnificent pilots in their flying machines that inspired it. Rejecting the roundness of the pocket watch, it boldly sported a square bezel and a mechanical aesthetic: the eight screws securing the bezel were left proudly visible rather than hidden as was the norm. Advertisement The new model Santos de Cartier in yellow gold and steel. Photo: Handout The strong, uncompromising form of the 1904 Santos-Dumont enabled Cartier's watchmakers to lead the industry in the creation of new watch shapes, while its purity of line and precision of proportion invited them to soar ahead with new interpretations. Decades later, in 1978, the Santos de Cartier line debuted and, in tune with the times, it embraced a sports watch approach. An integrated metal bracelet replaced the leather strap of the original pilot's watch. One model was crafted in steel rather than precious metal – a fashionable new attitude for a luxury maison; while a gleaming bimetal version in steel accented with a yellow-gold bezel and screws also turned heads. The Santos de Cartier small model in yellow gold and steel. Photo: Handout Cartier steered this ever-evolving watch from horological icon to cult object. Famously, Michael Douglas ' corporate raider Gordon Gekko wore a gold Cartier Santos in the 1987 film Wall Street. Among more recent innovations, a Santos de Cartier became the brand's first skeleton watch. The Santos de Cartier small model in yellow gold. Photo: Handout Now landing in Hong Kong, the Santos de Cartier Petit Modèle encapsulates this century and more of watchmaking invention and reinvention. Slimmed down from larger models to a neat 27mm by 34.5mm, its dimensions echo the earliest versions of the watch. Fitted with a high-autonomy quartz movement rather than a mechanical engine, it emphasises fine proportions and adds a more sophisticated sunray dial effect. Glints of blue on the familiar sword-shaped hands and tip of the seven-sided crown offer contrast to the pristine landscape of the silvered dial, and the bezel and bracelet offered in either steel, yellow gold, or a mix of the two. Each of the trio comes with an alternate leather strap – alligator for the all-gold model or calfskin for the others. So, just like the pioneering adventurers of old, you can strap up and then reach for the sky.
