One of the maxims of the automotive industry is that of adapt or die. Innovation is going by leaps and bounds and competition is fierce, as it can only be with giant conglomerates whose turnover can easily exceed hundreds of billions a year – the Volkswagen Group, for example, closed 2021 with 250.2 billion euros (+12 ,3%)-. This is true in practically all its fields: from the technological to the normative, passing through the aesthetic and the environmental.
Within Europe, Spain is the second car-producing country —the ninth in world terms— and here, all the factories bid to become centers from which successful models come out, trying to stay ahead of other locations of the same manufacturer or others. countries. A clear example of this has been the Ford factory in Almussafes, which last June received the award of the GE-2 electric platform to manufacture two zero-emission models from 2025. This news was received with joy at the Valencian plant, but with not so much in Saarlouis (Germany), against which they competed.
The stakes, therefore, have always been very high. And they are not exclusively for companies and their shareholders, but also play a predominant role in politics. The Executive of Pedro Sanchez has articulated the European Next Generation funds through the Perte, programs aimed at transforming the Spanish economy after being punished by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Within the automotive industry, two stand out: Semiconductors and Electric and Connected Vehicles (VEC). The latter has a total of 2,975 million euros to promote the production of zero emission models.
This Perte gave rise to one of the most important industrial announcements: the Volkswagen Group will build a battery factory in Sagunto (Valencia) and will allocate its Seat and Volkswagen plants in Barcelona and Navarra, respectively, to the production of zero-emission urban cars. For these purposes, the German consortium will allocate 10,000 million euros.
But they are not the only ones who will focus on these silhouettes. In Figueruelas (Zaragoza), Stellantis intends to assemble the zero emission Peugeot 208 and Lancia Ypsilon.
The Austral as an example
Although there have been several model awards in the last year —Citroën C4X, Cupra Formentor, Fiat Dobló, Mitsubishi ASX, Toyota Proace City and Volkswagen Taigo—, these have not involved as radical a transformation of the assembly line as it has been. been the Austral at Renault’s Palencia plant.
The diamond brand is focusing its electric manufacturing offensive in Douai, in the north of France, but has decided that the hybrid models will be made in Spain. This was made clear by its world director of Production, Jose Vicente de los Mozos, when he presented the Renaulution España industrial plan. Between 2022 and 2024, three models from the C and D SUV segment will arrive in Palencia, while they will arrive in Valladolid from the By B+ category. A new family of engines will arrive at the Engine factory, while two new gearboxes will arrive in Seville. In total, Renault estimates that this plan will generate more than 12,000 million euros of value for Spain.
To manufacture the Austral, Renault has equipped the Palencia plant with 400 new robots, so that in the welding area alone they already have 1,320. According to sources close to the brand, the factory is 80% robotic, with automated flows from placing orders to suppliers to quality control. Palencia has received new variable-height balancers adapted to the CMF-CD platform, destined to be the skeleton of the hybrid models of segments C and D. In addition, they have created new ADAS benches, destined to calibrate the more than 32 this guy who has the Austral.
This has become the Palencia model that will have the most components made in Spain, from the stamped aluminum of its bodywork to the engine and gearbox, which come from the other Renault plants. The Valladolid R&D center will be responsible for developing the following generations of the SUV.
Very successful models for the manufacturer have emerged from the Castilian plant, such as the four generations of the Megane or the Laguna. In 2021, 78,000 units came out of its lines, almost 50% less than in 2020 —in addition to preparing for the Austral, Palencia also suffered from the shortage of semiconductors—. Although it is always intended that a new model be successful, that Renault has decided to attack the C-segment of SUVs, one that has been growing constantly and to which practically all manufacturers have joined, with hybrid engines and a contained price demonstrates its commitment to the Spanish market.