Stronger together
One shared platform. All the vehicles bear the Made in France hallmark. And, soon, a new generation of Nissan compact vans will be joining the new Kangoo on the lines. It is a marvellous illustration of the competitive edge in the Alliance’s Leader-Follower cooperation model. This strategy is based on tapping into new synergies, to capitalise even more on the plant’s efficiency and technology, while maximising fixed-cost sharing between the two companies.
This is fresh evidence of the collaborative dynamic we have set up within the Alliance to sharpen the competitive edge of each of our companies, for the benefit of each customer. It’s great news and an amazing opportunity for the Maubeuge plant, which has established a solid track record for excellence and know-how.”
Jean-Dominique Senard, Chairman of Renault
Maubeuge, the Made in France benchmark
Direction Maubeuge. You can’t miss the diamond-shaped logo on the plant’s façade. But Renault, Mercedes (Citan) and Nissan vehicles emerge from it more or less indiscriminately. And they all come together under the same roof for a good reason: we are the Alliance’s centre of LCV excellence.
The 6 million vehicles that this plant has produced since 1971 have made it a standard-setter in the industrial landscape. Maubeuge combines decades of know-how with uncompromising up-to-the-minute quality standards. It produced almost 150,000 vehicles in 2019, including 13,000 Kangoo Z.E vans. Over the years, MCA has become the Alliance’s centre of LCV excellence, and now also manufactures the passenger, utility and electric Kangoo variants sold by other brands.
Pushing performance higher, non-stop
The plant has invested €450 million in recent years to build the New Kangoo. The main upgrades include a new XXL press line designed to stamp large parts, a new quality-control line and a virtual-reality simulator for the paint shop, an additional 8,000 sq. metres of sheet metal processes (housing 630 robots), a new workshop to assemble batteries, and more. This way, it will be able to produce more vehicles, and take manufacturing processes and finishing quality to the next level. And both these factors are essential for Nissan and Mercedes to entrust the plant with manufacturing their models.
We have transformed the plant substantially to produce all the versions of these new models, including the electric one, which will be gaining prominence in the near future. We need to seize this opportunity to cement our leadership and the Maubeuge plant’s position as the Alliance’s centre of excellence for light commercial vehicles.
Luciano Biondo, VP of Electro & LCV North Pole Industry in France
Plans to create the first Re-Factory in Flins were announced a couple of months ago, and production plants throughout France continue to push ahead with their forward-looking drive.
