Renault will open a permanent showroom in central London later this year as part of a new strategy of moving dealerships back into city centres.
Confirmed to Autocar by UK marketing director David Isherwood, the dealership will be in an “iconic location” with “a lot of footfall”.
The move echoes Mini's move to Park Lane, and could potentially put the French brand on the same high streets as the likes of Rolls-Royce, BMW and Mercedes-Benz - something Isherwood said was “exciting”.
“The idea is to have a permanent space in a place where we can really showcase the brand in an iconic location,” he said. “Somewhere we can attract a lot of footfall and where people who aren't necessarily automatically thinking 'I'm going to go and look around the car showroom' can just pop in and see us and discover what we're about.”
Branded RNLT, it will follow similar showrooms in Paris, Madrid and South Korea. Locations elsewhere in the UK, such as Manchester, will follow soon after, Isherwood said.
They follow a similar mould to Polestar’s 'spaces', which are placed in high-footfall city centres areas, such as shopping centres.
Asked what kind of buyers Renault is targeting from placing a showroom in central London, Isherwood said: “We're looking at any customer that you would find in those areas. We are moving generally into a slightly more premium customer space while still staying open to everybody.
“We're looking to meet people who aren’t necessarily going out looking for a car, aren’t necessarily going to go into a showroom, but can come in and see what's going on and discover the Renault of today and what the brand means today. And obviously all of that headlined very nicely by the new Renault 5.”
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