AUTONEWS

Renault has positive sales balance in Europe

By announcing the sale of 2,264,815 units worldwide, the Renault Group recorded a 1.3% increase in sales in 2024, with the Sandero becoming the most popular model. In Europe, the French achieved growth of 3.5%, twice that of the entire market, but it was in Brazil (+10.3%) and South Korea (+80.6%) that the group achieved the most significant increases.

In the sales mix in Europe, hybrid vehicles saw the greatest boost in demand, now representing 25.5% of units sold, with electric vehicles reaching 9% over the 12 months, but a more significant 12% in the last quarter, due to the launch of the Renault 5 E-Tech in October. The launch of the most affordable version of the electric R5 (with a 40 kWh accumulator) and the Renault 4 E-Tech, also with a battery, is scheduled for this year, in addition to the Alpine A390 to expand the range of 100% electric models.

Renault is clearly the leading brand in the group it gives its name to, and is the best-selling French brand in the world, with 1,577,351 light vehicles (passenger and commercial), an increase of 1.8% compared to 2023. In Europe it grew by 3.3% to 1,009,672 units, with the United Kingdom (+21.4%), Spain (+10.8%) and Italy (+6.7%) being the markets that stood out. The brand has strengthened its presence above the more profitable C-segment with the introduction of the Scenic E-Tech, Symbioz and Rafale.

With 676,340 vehicles sold in 2024, Dacia was the group's brand that grew most significantly (+2.7%), having seen the number of units sold rise by 12.4% in Spain, 13.1% in Italy, 15.4% in Belgium and Luxembourg and 16.3% in Morocco. This growth was not unrelated to the introduction of the Duster, which thus reinforced a range that already included the Sandero, Jogger and the electric Spring. The outlook for 2025 looks bright, with the launch of the Bigster, the brand's first C-segment vehicle.

Alpine still appears as the smallest manufacturer in the French group, but it is by far the biggest in terms of emotions. In 2024, counting only on the petrol A110, it delivered 4585 units (+5.9% compared to the previous year), with Italy (37.5%), the United Kingdom (+24.9%), Spain (+ 19.3%) and Germany (+10.6%) proving to be the biggest fans of the two-seater coupe. But this promises to be a different year, as Alpine will already have the new electric cars, respectively the small A290 and the large A390.

VW to pay billion-dollar fine

The Volkswagen Group has admitted that it may have to pay around 1.5 billion euros for not being able to comply with the carbon dioxide emissions limit imposed by the European Union for 2025.

The lobbying carried out by the German automobile industry, hand in hand with its government, which aimed to ensure that the limits agreed with the European Union (EU) for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions were not applied in 2025, has had no effect. Everything indicates that the Volkswagen, Mercedes and BMW groups will have to pay billions of euros in fines to the EU, or a little less if they choose to acquire carbon credits from carmakers that fall below the stipulated limit, which this year is 93.6 g. of CO2/km, well below the 116g of 2020 (equivalent to 95g according to the NEDC method used at the time).

The first of the German auto groups to acknowledge the coming storm was Volkswagen AG, via its head of investor relations Rolf Woller. According to Bloomberg, Woller told analysts that the German conglomerate expects to pay fines of 1.5 billion euros, due to the average CO2 emissions of the group's different brands, the most representative of which are VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat and Cupra. , as Bentley and Lamborghini must request an independent assessment for selling less than 10,000 units in the EU.

It will be interesting to know who VW shareholders attribute responsibility for this fine, which, furthermore, hits the group at a particularly delicate time, involving the closure of factories and the dismissal of workers, with the expectation that this will lead to a reduction in sales and profitability. One possibility is to place the “blame” on the Porsche and Piech families, who control the voting power within the management despite not owning the majority of shares, and who have decided not to present a single new electric model in 2024, nor in 2025. Now, proposals such as the long-awaited ID. 2 (which is only scheduled for 2026) could now contribute to reducing CO2 emissions. It is worth remembering that it was also these families who appointed the CEOs who allowed Dieselgate, exposing the group to paying million-dollar fines.

VW won't be the only one facing penalties. Mercedes is also facing this ordeal and, according to information from the EU, will try to overcome it (or reduce the bill) by buying carbon credits from Smart, Volvo and Polestar, carmakers that belong to the Chinese company Geely, Mercedes' largest shareholder. Apparently, Ford, Stellantis, Toyota and Mazda will share carbon credits with Leapmotor and Tesla, and it is not known who VW will buy CO2 credits from, after having acquired them from the Chinese company MG in 2020.

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