PARIS, Nov 29 (Reuters) - French carmaker Renault SA is set to meet its full-year target of a two percent operating margin, and will consider relaunching its brands in the U.S. from 2010, Chairman Louis Schweitzer said on Friday.
Schweitzer also confirmed in an interview on television station LCI that Renault aimed to grab either the same market share in 2002 as last year, or more.
"We are in line with the target we gave in July," Schweitzer said, referring to Renault's 2002 margin goal. The operating margin, or operating profit as a percentage of sales, is a key measure of a company's profitability.
Schweitzer confirmed that Renault would not return to the U.S. market before 2010, due to the success there of the firm's Japanese partner Nissan , in which it holds a 44.4 percent stake.
But he stressed that it would consider launching Renault brands in the world's largest car market after that date. This would be made easier thanks to Nissan's existing network of factories and dealerships, he said.
"The United States is becoming an important question for reflection for Renault, because it is a very big market," he said. "At the moment, it is Nissan (in the U.S.). But from 2010, this is something to re-examine."
Schweitzer also said that Renault did not intend to form any link-up with crisis-hit Italian carmaker Fiat . When asked if Renault was looking at Fiat he replied: "No."
Schweitzer reaffirmed an earlier forecast that the European car market as a whole would dip by around four percent this year, and that Renault hoped to maintain, or improve, its market share.
Renault is aiming for a market share "above or the same as last year's", he said, though he conceded that the third quarter had been tough for the company, as expected.
Renault last month posted a 2.9-percent dip in third-quarter sales, blaming the fall on its ageing line-up as it rolls out new versions of top-selling models.
In September it launched the quirky new mid-sized Megane, which it is betting will boost profitability and help grab market share from domestic rival PSA Peugeot Citroen and Germany's Volkswagen AG .