Union Deal Clears Way for Renault Spain Investment

MADRID – After reaching a competitiveness and flexibility agreement with its unions in April, Renault will invest more than €600 million ($685 million) in its Spanish plants from 2017-2020.

The spending plan will allow the hiring of 2,000 workers, production of a new model, a new engine, a new transmission and expansion of the Valladolid facility.

Jose V. De los Mozos, president of Renault Spain and a member of the Renault executive board as global vice president-assembling and logistics, says the automaker made the agreement with the unions a necessary requirement.

The Valladolid plant will assemble a new model alongside the Captur CUV. Renault is not releasing details of the new model, but unconfirmed reports say it will be a small vehicle based on the mechanical platform of the Clio minicar but with an all-new body architecture.

The Valladolid engine plant will be assigned a new powerplant based on the 1.5L diesel unit already built there. The new engine will be used by the different brands of the Nissan-Renault Alliance and by Daimler, which already installs the 1.5L diesel in its Citan van.

To cut production costs, the engine plant will be augmented by a new facility that will produce aluminum canter cylinder heads for the redesigned 1.5L diesel starting in 2017.

Renault will add 600 new jobs at Valladolid and designate 1,400 current temporary employees as full-time workers.

In the Palencia plant, 1,000 new temporary jobs will be created in September, when a fourth shift will be implemented during the weekends. Those jobs will be maintained while demand justifies them. Renault Spain says the additional shift should allow the assembly of more than 8,000 Megane and Kadjar models weekly.

Renault’s transmission plant in Seville will be redesigned extensively to accommodate production of the newly awarded TX30 gearbox, which creates more torque than the current TL4. The TX30 also will be used by several brands of the Nissan-Renault Alliance.