Renault has recently made an announcement of its plans to invest €420 million (around $543 million) into their Georges Besse plant to gear up for production of the Espace, Laguna (both estate & hatch) and Scenic / Grand Scenic replacements.
The funds that would be invested would be used to buy new tooling and equipment which will be needed to build the models. The plant will also switch to a “single-flow standard” which will allow all the five models to be built on a single production line. Renault says that this switch will enable them to easily adapt production to the fluctuating demand.
The company didn’t provide much detail about these upcoming models but confirmed that they will use standardized architectural components and go into production somewhere in 2014.
Executive Vice President of Manufacturing and Supply Chain of Renault also hinted that the aim is actually for the plant to move into a new segment called executive vehicles and to manage an unprecedented level of diversity. This will enable it to be less dependent on market fluctuations and thus be more efficient.
