By Gilles Guillaume
PARIS (Reuters) -French carmaker Renault is reviewing its pricing policies of electric cars worldwide to ensure it stays competitive after a wave of price cuts by rival Tesla Inc, a top executive said on Monday.
After slashing prices several times in the United States, Tesla on Friday cut prices in Europe- including on Renault’s home turf – as well as Israel and Singapore, expanding a global discount drive it began in China in January.
“We will analyse country by country, market by market, which level of competitiveness we need to have to stay in the game,” Fabrice Cambolive, the chief executive of the Renault brand, told reporters.
The brand’s sales rose 9% in the first quarter of the year, indicating a restructuring strategy focusing on the most profitable models may be starting to pay off after four years of declining revenues.
But Cambolive said Tesla’s price cuts were a wake-up call for competitors.
He said sales of Renault’s Megane electrified model, one of its most popular, had risen sharply in March, with strong orders despite a very limited discounting policy. But the model now costs as much as its competitor’s equivalent.
After last week’s price cut by Tesla, the Tesla Model 3 in France starts at 41,990 euros, compared with 42,000 euros for the Megane electric.
“It’s clear that (Tesla cutting prices) is a challenge, starting with the cost side of things. It’s a warning that we are looking at,” Cambolive said.
Worldwide sales for the Renault brand reached 354,545 vehicles in the first three months of the year, the company said on Monday.
The whole group, which also produces Dacia and Alpine cars and which will release group-wide sales data on Thursday, posted a 5.9% decline in sales in 2022, hit by the loss of the Russian market. Sales for the Renault brand, which represents two-thirds of group sales, fell by 9.4% last year, their fourth consecutive annual decline.
The French company, which was hit harder than most rivals by the COVID-19 crisis and a global chip shortage, is betting on higher-margin and electric cars to boost profits.
(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume Editing by Silvia Aloisi and Mark Potter)
