Interesting article...it would cost $87 million to adapt the Avantime
to met US regulations. And presumably, the Avantime already mets the
US crash tests and maybe the emissions. No wonder Peugeot is not in a
hurry to return.
Hugo
U.S. won't get Avantime
STEPHANE FARHI
Automotive News Europe
PARIS -- Renault and Nissan have rejected a plan to sell the
futuristic Renault Avantime luxury coupe in the United States market
with an Infiniti badge.
The Avantime was proposed as a way for Renault to re-enter the U.S.
passenger-car market that it abandoned in 1987 with the sale of
American Motors to Chrysler.
The idea to badge the radically-shaped, one-box coupe as an Infiniti
emerged soon after Renault and Nissan announced their alliance in
March, 1999. French executives had thought that in the upper segment
a few customers would be interested in standing out from the crowd.
The decision not to do it was made by the Renault-Nissan Global
Alliance Committee, which includes chairmen Louis Schweitzer and
Yoshikazu Hanawa and 10 other top executives of the two carmakers.
A Renault spokesman said the decision was made "for economic reasons"
even though the car did well in clinic tests held in the United
States late last year.
"The cost to adapt the Avantime to U.S. regulations and to equip it
with a Nissan V6 engine and automatic gearbox would have reached 600
million Francs ($87 million)," said Renault spokesman Patrick Bessy.
That would be equivalent to half the amount spent for the entire
Avantime development, he said.
Bessy said Renault could not justify the investment for an expected
volume of no more than a few thousand units per year in North America.
Sources in France say the Avantime also did not meet Infiniti's image
and specification requirements.
"If you look at the Infiniti range today, it offers very classic
design," said an industry source. "In the view of Nissan's North
American executives, the Avantime was probably not the best car to
embody Infiniti in the U.S. market. The interior packaging was not
good enough for Infiniti standards." Renault officials sought to
minimize the importance of the decision. "It was not a big issue,"
said Bessy. "We remain pragmatic and the principle of cross-badged
vehicles is not excluded."
For example, he said the Nissan Xterra sport-utility is a strong
candidate to be sold in Europe with a Renault badge.
Renault first showed the Avantime as a concept car in February 1999.
A production version was unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show last
September.
Based on the Espace minivan platform, the radically-shaped "coupe-
space" has a glass roof, aluminum A and C pillars, though no center
pillar, and two very large doors. Renault expects to sell 60,000 to
80,000 units over six years.
The Avantime will be built by Matra Automobile, the Romorantin,
France, vehicle assembler that also makes the Espace.
It will go on sale in Europe in early 2001 priced at $40,000 for the
V6 version with manual transmission.
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