8 ms·

My French bias is going to show but I wonder how Renault's Zoe is doing. It's been out for 6 years. Granted, Renault is completely absent from the US market and

My French bias is going to show but I wonder how Renault's Zoe is doing. It's been out for 6 years. Granted, Renault is completely absent from the US market and the car is uh... really not marketable for the US (it's tiny).

clouddrover 7y ago
It's sold 35k units so far in 2019 up to September: http://ev-sales.blogspot.com/2019/10/global-top-20-september.html http://ev-sales.blogspot.com/2019/10/global-top-20-september... And there's a new revision of the Zoe coming out soon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64iJj3HTnMQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64iJj3HTnMQ
baq 7y ago
i've been driven in one and it was very surprising how nice it was; the price was completely prohibitive though.
thefounder 7y ago
I don't believe Renault makes Zoe to sell. They make the model for compliance with EU regulations.
- moccachino 7y ago
  I'm curious, how do the regulations incentivize making a model that they don't really need to sell much of?
  - fstephany 7y ago
    From what I understand, carmakers have average emissions quota across their whole range (95g/km of CO by 2021). Having electric vehicles in the range is a way to meet the quota even if they don't sell really well.
    - moccachino 7y ago
      Oh ok, I'd heard about the emissions quota, but I always thought it wasn't a simple average of the offered range, but was surely weighted by sales.
      - yorwba 7y ago
        It is weighted by number of new registrations: https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/average-co2-emissions-from-new https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/average-co2-emissions-f... If a car manufacturer actually makes and registers low-emission cars just to keep the average of their fleet down, there's not really a point in just having them sit around collecting dust, so they might as well sell them.
- isoprophlex 7y ago
  Really? Aren't sales numbers way too high for this strategy? Like, multiple tens of thousands sold? Compare this to the ridiculous fiat 500e at barely 2k sold...
- harperlee 7y ago
  Madrid has zoes for carsharing through the zity app and frankly they are perfect for the city and nearby roads.
  - bonzini 7y ago
    Same in Italy, electric car sharing is exclusively using Zoe's.
    - rasz 7y ago
      Who owns the car sharing company? Is it an Energy company by any chance? a coal plant owning Energy company?
      - bonzini 7y ago
        It's owned by the train company.
xedeon 7y ago
Not too good I'm afraid. Renault is already FCF negative. https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/10/18/renault-facing-troubles-in-many-areas-autos-expert-says.html https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/10/18/renault-facing-trouble... Their long time partner Nissan is facing troubles too: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-25/nissan-s-pain-worsens-as-99-profit-drop-forces-deeper-job-cuts https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-25/nissan-s-...
random_kris 7y ago
I've test drived Renault Zoe. It was my first electric car driving expirience and I was amazed... Too bad it doesn't offer enough for its price.

clouddrover 7y ago

It's sold 35k units so far in 2019 up to September: http://ev-sales.blogspot.com/2019/10/global-top-20-september.html http://ev-sales.blogspot.com/2019/10/global-top-20-september... And there's a new revision of the Zoe coming out soon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64iJj3HTnMQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64iJj3HTnMQ

baq 7y ago

i've been driven in one and it was very surprising how nice it was; the price was completely prohibitive though.

thefounder 7y ago

I don't believe Renault makes Zoe to sell. They make the model for compliance with EU regulations.

moccachino 7y ago
I'm curious, how do the regulations incentivize making a model that they don't really need to sell much of?
- fstephany 7y ago
  From what I understand, carmakers have average emissions quota across their whole range (95g/km of CO by 2021). Having electric vehicles in the range is a way to meet the quota even if they don't sell really well.
  - moccachino 7y ago
    Oh ok, I'd heard about the emissions quota, but I always thought it wasn't a simple average of the offered range, but was surely weighted by sales.
    - yorwba 7y ago
      It is weighted by number of new registrations: https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/average-co2-emissions-from-new https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/average-co2-emissions-f... If a car manufacturer actually makes and registers low-emission cars just to keep the average of their fleet down, there's not really a point in just having them sit around collecting dust, so they might as well sell them.
isoprophlex 7y ago
Really? Aren't sales numbers way too high for this strategy? Like, multiple tens of thousands sold? Compare this to the ridiculous fiat 500e at barely 2k sold...
harperlee 7y ago
Madrid has zoes for carsharing through the zity app and frankly they are perfect for the city and nearby roads.
- bonzini 7y ago
  Same in Italy, electric car sharing is exclusively using Zoe's.
  - rasz 7y ago
    Who owns the car sharing company? Is it an Energy company by any chance? a coal plant owning Energy company?
    - bonzini 7y ago
      It's owned by the train company.

xedeon 7y ago

Not too good I'm afraid. Renault is already FCF negative. https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/10/18/renault-facing-troubles-in-many-areas-autos-expert-says.html https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/10/18/renault-facing-trouble... Their long time partner Nissan is facing troubles too: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-25/nissan-s-pain-worsens-as-99-profit-drop-forces-deeper-job-cuts https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-25/nissan-s-...

random_kris 7y ago

I've test drived Renault Zoe. It was my first electric car driving expirience and I was amazed... Too bad it doesn't offer enough for its price.