Priced at £16,990 + VAT in the UK when it launches in November, plus £62 per month to lease the battery over three years and 9000 miles, the Kangoo is priced competitively against diesel light vans, but Renault denied it is losing money on the first generation of the technology in order to establish battery power.
“We need to make money to sell a car, I need to decide the price of a car four or five years before, and the volumes and content,” said Renault product planning vice-president Beatrice Foucher. “We need to find profitability five years before, and then we push the button. It’s a bet, sometimes a safe one, sometimes more difficult.”
She said Renault expects to make money on its electric vehicle programme from the first generation, rather than the route taken by the likes of Toyota, as the first generation Prius lost the firm money on each car but established Toyota as a hybrid leader.
“With EVs, we hope to make money, this is the business case we have decided,” said Foucher. “It is possible to lose money because you made a mistake, but it is not possible to decide to launch a car to lose money and we will make money on this generation of EVs.”
