Do you remember when a certain policy announced that ‘diesel has two days left’? Those statements were nothing more than a trial balloon, but together with the advent of environmental labels and LEZs, they marked a clear commercial decline of diesel cars in Spain. In a broader context, all of Europe is abandoning diesel in passenger cars, in pursuit of electrification and small, high-efficiency gasoline engines. However, it would be a mistake to write off diesel for dead, and brands like Renault will keep it in mind in their future.
The news of the day is that Renault has signed an agreement with PUNCH Torino, for the development of a new family of diesel engines compatible with Euro 6 and Euro 7 regulations. The Euro 7 anti-pollution regulation was not announced until just a few weeks ago, and fortunately, it has been less restrictive than expected within its harshness. This environmental regulation will still allow the existence of internal combustion engines – rather than an unspoken prohibition – of great refinement, tightly “controlled” by state-of-the-art anti-pollution systems.
For Renault, the development and manufacture of new diesel engines still makes sense.
PUNCH is an Italian company specialized in engine development, and collaborates technically and humanely with Renault in this new family of engines. For the French brand, this operation – called “Horse Project” – will considerably cushion the cost of developing internal combustion engines. For its part, PUNCH will be able to buy, use and sell these engines in its business projects. You could, for example, sell them to a manufacturer that has decided that investing in developing an engine family is too expensive.
The Euro 6 and Euro 7 diesels that Renault and PUNCH will develop are intended for future ranges of light commercial vehicles from Renault. Do not expect to see them in the range of SUVs from the French brand, which in the passenger car segment is openly committed to hybrids and electrics. The production of these engines will be carried out by Renault, and will take place exclusively in Cléon (Normandy, France). In the press release there is no reference to the engine factory that Renault currently operates in Valladolid.
These diesel engines are not expected to reach any segment other than commercial vehicles.
However, this should not be an ominous announcement for the Renault facilities in Spain, which produce E-Tech hybrid mechanics for cars such as the Renault Captur or Renault Austral, among others, at a good pace. This news comes a few weeks after Renault “transferred” its internal combustion vehicle business to the joint venture it recently created with the Chinese giant Geely.
