Vel Satis Gets Early Retirement

After only three years and 1,400 sales, Renault has axed the Vel Satis in the UK. "We are pulling the plug on the vehicle," said the firm's UK managing director, Philippe Talou-Derible.

Auto Express Car Reviews

09th March 2005

He told Auto Express that investing in the engineering for a right-hand-drive version of the facelifted model "simply did not make economic sense, from stocking parts to printing brochures. It was a very quick calculation".

The upgraded Vel Satis, due on sale in Europe in April, features a revised nose and back end, plus an upgraded facia that incorporates sat-nav. Talou-Derible admitted: "The interior involves high-cost items such as the dashboard, which would be too expensive to convert to RHD for the numbers involved."

Renault predicted 3,500 UK Vel Satis sales over three years, but got only a third of that. It's the second high-profile end to one of the company's cars in two years. The Avantime luxury coup΃©/MPV was killed off early in 2003 after less than a year on sale.