Smart Motorist

Executives at the French carmaker believe the redesigned Scenic family will have strong appeal to key demographic groups such as families with children.

"There's no question that the minivan segment suffered in the past few years from the growing SUV product offerings," said Bruno Ancelin, head of Renault's Megane family, which includes the Scenic minivans.

The three-vehicle Scenic family includes a five-seat Scenic and a larger five- or seven-seat Grand Scenic.

The Grand Scenic will launch in more than 20 European countries by the end of May, while the Scenic launches in June.

European minivan sales dropped from 1.5 million units in 2007 to 1.2 million units in 2008, and could drop as low as 800,000 this year, according to Renault's segmentation data.

But the decline could be reversed this year with a new Toyota Verso, a new Ford C-Max, and a new Volkswagen Touran - all due to be launched soon.

French carmaker Peugeot will also launch its first compact minivan towards the end of the year. Based on the 308, Peugeot's planned minivan will have five- and seven-seat versions.

"There will be be an abundant offer of new minivans this year, and the segment should gain back some of its market share," Ancelin told Automotive News Europe at an event here.

Renault, which invented the compact minivan segment when it launched the first Scenic in 1996, will aim its third-generation Scenic minivans at customers who have bought 3.2 million Scenics over the past 13 years.

"There is an enormous fleet of existing Scenic vehicles out there, across Europe, and we will be fighting to convert them to the new Scenic," Ancelin said.

Renault says it sold 171,718 Scenics in Europe in 2008.

About 40 to 50 percent of all Scenic purchases are made by companies, government agencies, and rental fleets, said Renault's Scenic sales director Franck Rougier.

"We expect that fleet sales figure to remain constant for the new Scenic," Rougier said.

Renault hopes to see a higher percentage of sales for the five and seven-seat Grand Scenic than the smaller five-seat Scenic.

Traditionally, the mix has been 70 percent Scenic and 30 percent Grand Scenic, Rougier said.

Prices -- and margins -- are higher on the Grand Scenic, which will be marketed toward a family-based clientele, than on the smaller Scenic, which will be aimed at older customers, Rougier said.

Ref:
http://www.autonews.com/