What was the now – friendly restraint or a missed opportunity? Is that the French manufacturers were bothered at the Paris Salon in 2018 from your direct competitors. VW, Ford, Opel, Fiat, Alfa, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi – they were not come to the exhibition to France. But Renault and PSA (Peugeot, Citroën, DS) failed to shoot the Ball into the empty goal. To dominate instead of the exhibition halls, denied you your home game, plenty of defensive.
You believe that perhaps when one has seen the appearance of the three robot-cars from Renault. EZ-Go, EZ-Pro and the all-new EZ-Ultimo are so powerful that you can stand the glance at the fair almost completely adjusted. But on the other side: It was up to the Facelift of the compact SUV Kadjar is nothing New, what you could use.
And it is not yet confirmed, that the Robo-Taxi of the future looks like the EZ-Ultimo. Five and a half meters long and 2.20 meters wide, offers the strange vehicle but only room for three persons, and the outside opaque body is likely to convey to most of the other traffic participants, a queasy feeling. Maybe you should think about it again in Paris.
Renault is well positioned for everything you can imagine under the electric mobility. CEO Carlos Ghosn has much earlier than other group handlebars to the battery drive. In 2010, the Leaf of the Japanese sister brand Nissan debuted and became the best-selling electric car in the world. Three years later, the most successful electric car came out on the Basis of the small car Renault Clio, the Zoe, until today in Europe.
For the near future, Renault-Nissan is following the Plan “Drive the Future”. By 2024, eight electric cars, and twelve hybrid vehicles are designed to enrich the offer, the diesel engine range will be thinned out. The French electric future Japanese engineers contribute now Ghosn has acquired 34 percent of Mitsubishi, mainly because of their experience with Plug-in hybrid systems. 2024 a new electric platform will be ready, which will be the Basis for E-Mobile for all three brands and battery can allow you to accommodate packages, and the 500 kilometers range.
in the World, Renault-Nissan, with about 9.6 million passenger Cars sold in the year 2017, the number three. PSA, the other French group, with 3.6 million new registrations in the global Ranking on the ninth place. In Europe, Renault is assigned, but only third place, while PSA behind Volkswagen as the number two – what to do with the incorporation of Opel and its British twin sister, Vauxhall.
Opel is not one of a lot of
Opel could not, however, exhibit in Paris, as also becomes clear that the developments of the German brand with a long tradition in the French composite count very much. In the future, in any case, all group models are on two different Peugeot platforms.
While Renault is investing in the future, is PSA still to consolidate. Since 2016 the official corporate motto of “Push to Pass” (throttle is to give, to overtake). By 2024, sales are expected the Chairman of the Board and the hobby racer Carlos Tavares, a growth of 15 percent compared to 2015 and a return of six per cent.
Perhaps Peugeot has made of the cost of actually obligatory press conference reasons to save money the Paris Salon. Except for a wagon version of the middle-class model 508, it had not announce but a lot of New. That Peugeot will stop the further development of the diesel engine was not at the show, but from a report of the English magazine “Autocar”. Thus, Peugeot will construct for the time being, no new diesel engines and the business so that, if necessary, even abandon it entirely – a consequence of the fraud, scandal and the ever more stringent CO2 limits, which cannot be reached without the sales of electrified cars.
Citroën showed no world premieres, however, there was the SUV C5 Aircross as a Concept Car with Plug-in Hybrid. The car will go to 2024 in the series, and of course, the PSA-strategies for Citroën apply. Here, the electrification plan, “Low Emission Vehicle is to be”, and then all Citroën until 2025 models as electric or plug-in hybrid version in the trade.
This is not the case of Peugeot, Opel and DS Automobiles not much different. In the case of DS, the electric theme is played according to the progressive approach of the brand, which emerged from a Citroën only on the offensive. The Compact SUV DS3 cross back on the Salon world premiere and 2019, will go into production, the customers have the choice between a variant with an internal combustion engine and an electric model.
The other fair novelties are also blessed with electric drive: a Plug-in Version of the big DS7 cross back and the Concept Car DS X E-Tense, a luxury electric sports car for the year 2035. DS is also one of the race cars for the formula E premieres his world, but since this car is not a serial product and also a new paint job, is not he may be but the novelty you would expect on a car show.
one of the most beautiful cars of the salon is on the PSA-level: The Peugeot e-Legend is a world premiere, as in the book, bristling with technology, no one can afford, but styled in the most beautiful Retro Look. Far the Design of this Concept car shows in the past – no visitors, the goers of the Peugeot 504 is not recognized in the elegant cars from the early 70s.
The interior, however, evokes a distant future, up to 16 Displays, the car communicates with the driver, and, of course, drive it electrically and autonomously. E-Legend is supposed to have a range of 600 kilometers, and you can reload at special fast-charging stations in 25 minutes on a 500 km range.
beyond all the announcements of the competition, which has, however, already series-produced electric cars on the market, or shortly before the start of sales. The Autonomous functions of the cars are expected to wait at Peugeot no longer on the series production than, for example, in the case of Daimler or BMW. This is on the money, as automotive scientists Stefan Bratzel of the University of applied Sciences host says Bergisch Gladbach. “PSA needs to cope with the Integration of Opel. Nevertheless, you have the issues of the future already in sight.“
The end of an Era
The difficulty with PSA and Renault, on the way to Autonomous Driving to get to the same level as the German manufacturer looks Bratzel, among other things, to the fact that the French have no real premium brands. “A premium manufacturer, it is in this respect easier because you can ask for their vehicles to higher prices. In the case of the customer, the volume of brands in the wallet is a little smaller. Therefore, Renault and PSA will realize first of all, reasonable and affordable vehicles.“
A nice example for this strategy Citroëns waiver of a technology that has shaped the Image of the brand: The hydro-pneumatic suspension has been used with the expiry of the middle – class model C5- the end of an Era. Sedan and wagon will not be launched again and instead will now keep the SUV C5 Aircross buyers of larger cars at the rod.
according to the earlier C5 in ride comfort in anything, it is because as a replacement for the hydro-pneumatic, the American Citroën Boss Linda Jackson seemed less historically as a rather expensive, there is now the Advanced-Comfort suspension with hydraulic stop.
The technology allows for longer suspension travel and more overall comfort than a conventional chassis. In contrast to the hydro-pneumatic Advanced to the Comfort built into each Citroen, and also in models of the small car class. In addition, the new suspension is much cheaper.
