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There, I’ve said it: The Renault ZOE will be a great success. It’s public, so we can come back next year and argue about whether I was right or not! F
[See the full post at: The Renault ZOE Will Be a Great Success!]Well, the OEMs need electric cars to lower their CO2 emmissions.
But the dealers don’t need another bunch of problems such as
– lots of investment for new infrastructure (charging stations), tools
– lots of investment for education of the employees
– lots of customers that are simply not Z.E. ready
– space blocked in the showrooms for models that have no big revenuesI understand that most dealers are cautious. Selling an EV is some what different from doing what they did the last 100 years…
My 2 ct.
UmbiWell, perhaps Renault actually have separated the ZE development or they just didn’t experience it yet as such a problem. After all, their ZE sales people at the dealers (here at least) are dedicated ZE persons. My ZE rep drives just the ZE range and she is the only one trained specifically to sell cars of the ZE range. The other salesmen know a bit about it, but usually they have to defer to her (they’re not really allowed either). Since she is dedicated you can see she has the same bug as we do, once you are aware of the technology, the comfort, the true economics and the advantages, you become a believer.
I did see a lot of billboard commercials in Nice for the Zoe, but there is still no advertising for the Zoe here in Holland at all. There was quite a lot for the new Clio this winter and I see a lot for the new Captur (which apparently sells very well), nothing for the Zoe.
Total amount of Zoe’s sold by my Renault dealer here is around 6, starting beginning of May. She’s never sold that many EV’s in such a short time, but that was to be expected. Except for a road tax exemption for the next few years, there is no discounts from the government for private users and no free charge points. Lease drivers do get better discounts though.
I was expecting my Zoe to arrive on the truck today, but it appears it’s blocked in Belgium for unknown reasons. Hopefully it will arrive later this week. The rep did give me the keys of her demo Zoe which I could take along the whole afternoon if I wished, so I drove it around a bit with some friends. Also stopped at the Mc D to try out the free EV chargers their while having a milkshake. Can’t wait to get my own Zoe….
A French article on the sales slump in France – though in the comments it’s pointed out that vehicles have likely been deferred to other markets, as I argued:
A post on InsideEVs that is more positive than the one I quoted in my post:
May Electric Vehicle Sales in France; Renault Zoes Leads the Way
And one somewhere in between:
Sales of Renault Electric Vehicles on the Decline in 2013; Only Zoe Shows Promise
“This month the french hatchback started to arrive in significant numbers to countries other than France and that resulted in three #1’s for Renault, in May the Zoe topped the EV charts for the first time in Spain, Italy and Austria, adding that to the top spot it already had in France and brilliants #2 in Germany and #3 (And best selling BEV) in the Netherlands, Renault’s supermini recovered the top spot (both monthly and YTD) in Europe, relegating the Nissan Leaf to second place.”
and a related item:
Renault Zoe Shoots to Top of Germany’s Electric Vehicle Sales Chart in May
French sales improved in June:
Renault Zoe Back on Track in France With Over 750 Sales in June
Anyone knows what’s the capacity of the factory? It should be 1000 vehicles per day same as for clio.
AnonymousI don’t know how many vehicles can come off the line each day but I’d guess they would build in batches (whether that be Clio or Zoe and which colours and specs).
Based on the data on Renault’s corporate website they sold about 20,000 Clios in May and about 1,000 Zoes so it’s clear to see the vast majority of the production capacity is (rightly) allocated to the Clio at the moment.
Details here:
http://www.renault.com/en/finance/chiffres-cles/pages/ventes-mensuelles.aspxA very crude daily average for 2012 based on the numbers here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flins_Renault_Factorywould suggest ~ 350 cars a day if the factory runs 7 days a week or closer to 450 a day if it runs 5 days a week.
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