Renault Australia is on-track for another sales record this year – buoyed by a list of fast-selling vehicles like the Clio and Megane and their red-hot RS models as well as the Trafic commercial van. Being the reigning F1 World Champion and with Aussie Red Bull Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo starring in the 2014 championship also helps.
Another factor behind Renault’s global success is the work of new design chief Laurens Van den Acker – the French giant’s Clio is the standout looker in the compact hatchback segment.
All of this means it’s a good time to be a Renault dealer and the company plans to open new dealerships this year in Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin and in regional Victoria in Gippsland as well as regional Queensland.
According to Renault Australia chief Justin Hocevar, quality dealers and the work done to support customers with programs like a five-year warranty, capped-price servicing and a used car program are factors behind very impressive resale values for Renault vehicles.
“Historically poor resale values have been a stigma for French brands in Australia and we’ve certainly been working to correct that,” Mr Hocevar told Car Showroom. “We’re determined the customer experience will reflect the qualities of the Renault brand and now our customers can be confident of enjoyable lifetime ownership.”
More than just words, the facts speak for themselves: a Renault Clio after 36 months and 60,000kms has a resale value of 47 per-cent (just shy of the Volkswagen Polo and Mazda2 with 50 per-cent).
Same with spare parts pricing where the industry standard parts ‘basket’ shows Renault’s prices are only marginally more expensive than the segment-best Ford Fiesta and cheaper than both Mazda2 and Volkswagen Polo.
