LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Carmaker Renault decided to pull out from its joint-venture with China's Dongfeng following disappointing sales.
The joint-venture, a creation of former Renault boss Carlos Ghosn, has been dissolved, the French carmaker announced on Tuesday morning.

The agreement with Dongfeng involved selling out of the 50-50 joint venture between the two partners, which was known as Dongfeng Renault Automotive Company (Drac).

Under the terms of the sale, Renault would also transfer full control of its plant in Wuhan, which was opened by Ghosn in 2016, to Dongfeng, meaning that Drac would cease selling Renault-branded cars.

"We are opening a new chapter in China. We will concentrate on electric vehicles and light commercial vehicles, the two main drivers for future clean mobility and more efficiently leverage our relationship with Nissan," said Fran?ois Provost, chairman of the China business for Renault.

Renault had always struggled to find its place in the Chinese market, which was seen slowing further in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, Renault sold fewer than 20,000 cars through the JV.

The manufacturer was also one of the hardest hit by the virus, having been forced to shut plants across the globe and to consider taking out a bank loan guaranteed by the French state worth up to €5bn to see it through the crisis.

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• STUMBLEUPON
• MIXX
• YAHOO BUZZ
• DELICIOUS
• REDDIT
• NEWSVINE