Renault ramps up refurb plant

Car maker embraces refurbishment as part of motoring's more sustainable future

- JIM HOLDER

The Renault Refactory is on course to recommission more than 25,000 used cars this year – including some made by rival manufacturers.

The large-scale refurbishment centre in Flins, near Paris, is in what was once Renault’s largest new car production plant. It sources used vehicles from dealers within a 200km radius and readies them for resale.

The €8 million (£7m) project is one part of a redevelopment of the 232-hectare facility. It was opened in 1952 and once home to manufacturing of the Renault Dauphine, 4, 5, Clio and Twingo, among others, and still makes around half of Europe’s Renault Zoes and Nissan Micras as its owner seeks to preserve employment in the region while it moves new car manufacturing to more cost-effective plants.

Other initiatives housed within its perimeter – which in 1957 played host to a state visit from the Queen – include projects to give electric car batteries a second life for energy storage, the development of hydrogen vans and a car breaking plant, with parts then stored for use in the refurbishment of the used cars. The facility also features innovation and study centres, including 3D printing facilities and an EV training ‘university’. As well as Renault’s own projects it is open for use for everyone from OEMs to start-ups looking to play a role in what is being dubbed the ‘circular economy of sustainable mobility’.