“We should have revived Renault 5 earlier” says firm’s marketing boss

Renault is set to go all-in on its three-pronged naming strategy as vice president and head of marketing, Arnaud Belloni, told Auto Express that the firm “should have revived the R5 much earlier”.

According to Belloni, there are “three pillars” to the company’s current strategy. The first covers new names such as Symbioz and Australe; there are also the so-called ‘Saga’ names such as Clio and Mégane, defined as those that have seen at least three generations; and then finally the ‘Icons’, such as R4 and R5, which are just two of over 1,000 names that the brand has in its back pocket.

Legal issues (with new names) and customer reception (to old ones) have ensured that it’s previously used names which Belloni is looking to focus on. He admitted to Auto Express that the process of gaining approval for car names is “tough” – especially in South America in which an 18-month approval period is standard fare.

Belloni said: “We use names that Renault has made from 10, 20 years ago as they are super well protected [legally] and are generally chosen when [we] have no time because the deadline is short.” He referred to the example of the Symbioz SUV, which shares its name with a 2017 concept car.

Regardless of timescales, Belloni is candid about his support for keeping iconic nameplates within the Renault line-up. He told Auto Express: “I was at Renault last century in 1989, left and joined again over 20 years ago in 1999. You want my view? Renault should have revived [the] R5 much earlier! Hopefully we’ve succeeded and it’s an enormous success.”

In terms of what’s coming in the future, Belloni told us that Renault is leaning heavily on its heritage with the launch of three new LCVs: the Estafette, Goelette and Trafic. The marketing head also hinted that there are some other “secret” names set to be revived in the future, as well; Renault recently revealed the awkwardly named ‘17 electric restomod’, potentially hinting at the 17 nameplate being brought back into production some time in the future.

On new names, Belloni told Auto Express that his policy is that each should have a meaning. “A name needs to describe something,” he told us. “It needs to be tangible.”

That hasn’t always been the case, as Belloni revealed that previously many new Renault names were actually created by a computer algorithm. He said: “I’ll give you an example; Kadjar means nothing – it’s a name built by a computer. It was AI generated, before [the popularisation of] AI.”

However, one name set to disappear is the E-Tech suffix, which Belloni stated “will not be here in 10 years”. He explained that the E-Tech branding had been designed to “help customers understand the pathway to electrification”.

Belloni also hinted that we will eventually see more Saga and Icon models go electric without the E-Tech suffix: “Clio started as petrol, then diesel, then hybrid and perhaps in the future, electric. There is no connection between the car[’s name] and the powertrain.”

For now, anyway, the Clio in particular is set to remain firmly hybrid and petrol-powered; Renault Group’s head of design Laurens van den Acker told Auto Express that “It wouldn’t make sense to do a 100 per cent EV Renault 5 and Clio. We want to be careful not to create vehicles that overlap each other”.

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