Renault Hopes for Steady Sales in Asia

Renault turns to Asia for hope

French manufacturer Renault is hoping that at least as far its Asian and African divisions are concerned, sales figures will remain to about the same levels registered in 2008, this despite all of the bad news coming from all over the automotive world.

"I believe Asia and Africa will be the first areas to turn around from such a difficult situation," Katsumi Nakamura, executive vice president and Nissan head of the Asia-Africa management committee was quoted as saying by Reuters.

In 2008, Renault sold a total of 200,000 units in the respective regions. This is about 8 percent of the 2.4 million units sold by the Renault Group worldwide. The same volume is hoped by the company to be achieved in this year too.

"It is inevitable that there will be some impact in Asia and Africa from the global economic slowdown," Nakamura said. "But countries such as China, India, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are not as damaged as the U.S., western Europe and Japan."

The Chinese market, the greatest performer in the region, needs to be tackled by Renault by establishing the company's image in the country before going for production plans. This could last anywhere in between three and five years, Nakamura added.

Renault's official is optimistic about the future of the Chinese market. He hopes sales will be kept at the same figures registered in 2008 and even goes as far as thinking those numbers could be surpassed in 2009. In Nakamura's opinion, the first quarter of 2009 is the proverbial "rock bottom", and things will slowly get back on track starting the second half of the year.