Très rapide! All new Renault models will come to market twice as quickly as before

Newly appointed Renault CEO François Provost has insisted that the accelerated development process of the forthcoming Twingo small electric car is “the right pace to apply to all [Renault] products” – potentially reducing their time to market by more than 50 per cent.

The new Twingo will be revealed next year, having gone from concept to production in just 21 months. Sub-brand Dacia will push things even further, slashing a car’s development time to just 16 months. Provost said this new-found speed will ensure the “acceleration of [the Renault Group’s] transformation” over the next few years.

New-car development times usually range from two to five years – with Chinese disruptors applying pressure on European manufacturers to quicken the period from initial concept to start of production. In his first media Q&A, Provost told Auto Express that his firm’s ability to transform these times will be a “key performance trigger” in the short to medium term, as it continues to invest in new models. If you can't wait, check out the latest Renault offers through the Auto Express Find a Car service.

The benefits are multi-faceted. The new boss said reducing development times is “quicker, smarter and less expensive,” and brings “innovation quicker to the customer” – suggesting Renault wants to keep its products competitive in a way it has struggled to in the past.

This shift of mindset won’t only apply to facelifted models, or those on an existing product architecture, with Provost insisting Renault has to apply this attitude “to all projects,” with one of his main aims in the early days of his tenure being to implement this “in France, in Europe, in [Renault’s] ecosystem”.

Elsewhere, however, Provost and his team have refused to turn former CEO Luca de Meo’s well-defined strategy on its head, prioritising “value over volume”. Jean-Dominique Senard, Renault’s chairman of the board of directors, said the plan is to maintain “strategic manoeuverability” and “embody some kind of continuity, but with open eyes: understanding what needs to be changed and what needs to be maintained”.

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