Extra under threat?
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• Renault Extra and R5 vans could be in short supply if company boss Raymond Levy carries out his threat to close down Renault's oldest plant at Billancourt, France, where most of the vans are built.
An interruption in the supply of Extra and R5 vans could have a serious effect on Renault's current UK sales push. To the end of October, its carderived van sales were up by 16% at 5,429 vehicles.
Levy, who wants to concentrate operations on the core car and truck manufacturing business and sell everything that is not vital to that main business, warns: "We have no plans to develop Billancourt — closure is a possibility."
Levy admits that Renault's truck division, Renault Vehicules Industriels, also needs to improves its performance. "It has been well reorganised and restructured and it has a nice share of the market in France, even if that is probably much too low when it is the only truck-making company in France."
He confirms that Renault will continue to supplement its model range with specialist vehicles. "We would like to retain this niche approach," he says. "The Espace is not dead."