Renault boss wants to drive the Dacia brand forward with a new family car
Luca De Meo reduces product range to profitable vehicles

The French automobile group Renault (PA: RENA) will present a new family car under the lower-cost Dacia brand in September, which will replace three existing models. This is part of the drive by CEO Luca De Meo to reduce the product range and focus on profitable vehicles. De Meo seeks to reorganize the finances of the loss-making Renault group, including through cost savings and job cuts, and to reverse the expansion strategy of former boss Carlos Ghosn in order to restore the group's profitability. Dacia, the Renault Group's low-cost brand, which includes bestsellers like the Sandero city runabout, will unveil its new seven-seater jogger model in early September in the run-up to the IAA (NYSE: IAA) in Munich, the company said in a statement . The Jogger is to replace the Logan, which is no longer in production, as well as the small Dakker and the larger Lodgy, which will also be phased out. Dacia did not provide any information about the prices. The Renault group wants to make a foray into the middle class in Europe, known as the compact segment, in which it competes with Volkswagen (DE: VOWG\_p) 's Golf, and reduces its reliance on smaller vehicles with lower profit margins, reflecting a strategy that the Peugeot (OTC: PUGOY) manufacturer PSA, now Stellantis, is pursuing. De Meo is keen to give Renault, Dacia and the sports car brand Alpine a stronger identity within the automotive group, at a time when competition in electric vehicles is intensifying around the world. Dacia, originally a Romanian company bought by Renault in 1999, launched its small electric car, Spring, in 2020, and De Meo said he wanted to give the Europe-based brand a global boost. From 2022, the cars are to be given a new logo. Ghosn - who was arrested in Japan in late 2018 on charges of financial misconduct, which he denies, before fleeing to Lebanon - forged Renault's alliance with Japanese automaker Nissan (OTC: NSANY) and pursued a volume-based strategy that the company used now move away.





