Renault has decided to stop selling petrol cars in China, pulling out of its loss making joint venture with Dongfeng and reversing a strategy put in place with great fanfare by former boss Carlos Ghosn, reported the Financial Times.
The French carmaker said on Tuesday morning that it had an agreement with Dongfeng to sell out of the 50-50 joint venture between the two partners, Dongfeng Renault Automotive Company (Drac).
The sale will also transfer full control of its plant in Wuhan, which was opened by Ghosn in 2016, to Dongfeng and mean that Drac will stop 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 François Provost, chairman of the China business for Renault.