Dongfeng Renault Automobile Company (DRAC) or Dongfeng Renault was an equally owned Chinese

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between car manufacturers Dongfeng Motor Group and

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

aimed to produce and sell Renault-badged vehicles, established in 2013. The joint venture emerged from Sanjiang Renault, a previous partnership between Renault and Sanjiang Space established in 1993. Renault announced it planned to withdraw from the joint venture in April 2020.

History

Sanjiang Renault

In 1993, Renault and Sanjiang Space Group established a manufacturing joint venture at

Xiaogan Xiaogan () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Hubei province, People's Republic of China, some northwest of the provincial capital of Wuhan. According to the 2020 census, its population totaled 4,270,371, of whom 988,479 lived in the buil ...

called Sanjiang Renault Automotive Company (). Renault had a 45% stake in the company while Sanjiang had 55%. In 1995, the company started assembling

Renault Trafic The Renault Trafic (pronounced as "traffic") is a light commercial van produced by the French automaker Renault since 1980. It is also marketed as the Fiat Talento, the Nissan NV300, the Nissan Primastar, the Mitsubishi Express and, until the ...

s. The partnership proved unsuccessful, and Sanjiang Renault only assembled 4,906 units before it halted production in 2003 or 2004.

Dongfeng Renault

Talks with Dongfeng began in 2004 or 2003 around the same time production halted at the failed Sanjiang-Renault partnership. As part of Dongfeng's agreements with Nissan, the three companies agreed to create eventually a so-called "golden triangle" of three-way collaboration. In June 2013, Dongfeng acquired the 55% stake in Sanjiang Renault from its erstwhile Chinese partner renaming the legal entity Dongfeng Renault Automobile Company. Renault signed on to the creation of an equally owned joint venture on 16 December 2013 after gaining final approval from the Chinese government. Dongfeng Renault sold only 18,607 cars in 2019 and reported an operating loss of more than 1.5 billion yuan ($212 million). In April 2020, following poor sales, Renault announced that it would concentrate on commercial and electric vehicles for the Chinese market. In August 2020, the Dongfeng Renault venture was officially dissolved and Renault transferred its stake to Dongfeng. The operations were renamed as Dongfeng Motor (Wuhan) Co., Ltd.

Operations

Dongfeng Renault was in charge of Renault's China sales. The Dongfeng Renault plant was built at Wuhan and started production in February 2016. It had an estimated output of up to 150,000 vehicles per year. The Renault's Wuhan facilities also included an engine workshop and a research and development centre.Production focused on

sport utility vehicle A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon defini ...

s (SUVs).

Produced models

Renault Koleos The Renault Koleos is a compact crossover SUV manufactured by the French manufacturer Renault. The majority of the production is coming from the Busan plant of Renault Samsung Motors. The first generation was marketed as the Renault Samsung QM5 a ...

(2016–2020) * Renault Kadjar (2016–2020) *

Renault City K-ZE The Renault Kwid is a crossover city car produced by the French car manufacturer Renault, initially intended for the Indian market and launched in 2015. In 2017, an improved Brazilian version was introduced for Latin American markets. Its batt ...

(2019-2020) * Renault Captur (2019-2020)

Imported models

Renault Fluence The Renault Fluence is a compact sedan produced by the French automaker Renault. The car was produced until 2016 at the Oyak-Renault plant in Bursa, Turkey. It was produced until the end of 2018 in Santa Isabel, Argentina, for the Latin Ameri ...

(2010-2018) * Renault Latitude (2010-2018) * Renault Talisman (2012-2017) *

(2010-2016) * Renault Captur (2013-2019) * Renault Megane R.S. (2013-2018) *

Renault Espace The Renault Espace is a five-door car manufactured by the French carmaker Renault since 1984 for five generations. It is classified as a large MPV/ minivan within the M-segment. The first three generations of the Espace were amongst the first ...

(2018-2020)

Gallery

File:2019 Renault Koleos GT Line Front.jpg, Renault Koleos File:2018 Renault Kadjar S Edition TCE 1.3 Front.jpg, Renault Kadjar File:Renault K-ZE 004.jpg, Renault City K-ZE

References

{{Renault Car manufacturers of China Dongfeng Dongfeng Motor joint ventures Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1993 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 2020 Chinese companies established in 1993 Chinese companies established in 2013 2020 disestablishments in China Chinese-foreign joint-venture companies