JANUARY 4, 2006

Renault and F1

A sign of Renault's attitude towards the value of F1 came in a press statement this morning giving details of the firm's sales figures in the last 12 months. The results show that the firm dropped 4.1% in Europe but made up for this with a 21% hike in international sales, which meant that overall the company increased sales by 1.7% to 2.53m vehicles.

It is perhaps significant that no mention was made of the value of Fernando Alonso's World Championship nor the Constructors' title while much was made of the success of the Dacia Logan. The only hint that there might be some effect from F1 was in the increase in sales of Renault cars in Spain, which were up 3.5% compared to France (2.7%) and Germany (1.9%). Elsewhere the numbers were down with Switzerland (miunus 7.6%), Holland (minus 7%) and UK (minus 4.7%).

The company says that its top priority is profitability but intends to continue its international expansion at the same time. The company will present its medium term plans on February 9.