Renault stops UK production
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• Renault is to stop building trucks in the UK which will cause 280 production-related jobs to go at Dunstable as assembly of all right-hand-drive models is transferred to France.
Dunstable currently builds two right-hand-drive models: the ageing 50 Series and the Midliner middleweight.
However, as part of the plan Renault Truck Industries is dropping the 50 Series because it would be too expensive to modify it in order to comply with Euro-1 emission legislation due in October next year.
The final transfer of truck production is expected to be completed "sometime in the spring", according to RTI boss Bernard Momin. Dunstable's existing product engineering function will continue under the recently formed Vehicle Engineering Centre.
The VEC will handle all modification work which is unique to the UK, such as twin-steer and tag-axle conversions on Frenchbuilt tractors. The main administrative headquarters is unaffected but RTI will be changing its name to Renault VI United Kingdom.
The decision to switch UK production to French plants comes at a time when RTI is struggling to reduce its losses and improve its performance in the UK market, particularly in heavy trucks.
Last year RTI posted an £18.6m pre-tax loss, slightly down on the previous year. But with the continuing British recession there has been little opportunity to improve profitability through vehicle sales. RTI's turnover fell by 10% last year from £11.9m to £64.8m. RTI's 1992 losses were expected to fall back to around 2.11-12m before closure costs.
In the year to the end of November RTI saw its sales volume fall by almost 26% to 1,208 units.
Dunstable has been under threat for many months and even the recent MoD order to supply more than 800 fourwheel-drive trucks, now completed, could only postpone the decision.
Momin says that while the switch to France will help reduce RTI's costs even further, the wholly owned subsidiary of RVI is unlikely to return to profitability much before 1994/95, This week Rh met its dealers to discuss the move.
See News Analysis page 14.