French carmaker Renault is on the hunt for new partners to buy its cars and components as it reported a fall in quarterly revenue and pushed ahead on a strategic review with “nothing off the table”.
According to agency reports, the review is expected to be completed within a few months and investors are hoping that will allow Renault to turn a page on months of uncertainty after the arrest last year of Renault-Nissan alliance boss Carlos Ghosn.
All aspects of the business – including Renault’s longtime, high-profile participation in Formula One motor racing – are being examined, interim CEO Clotilde Delbos told analysts.
Group revenue fell 1.6% to 11.3 billion euros in the third quarter, weighed down by a drop in production at partners Nissan and Daimler and declining demand for diesel engines which compounded the effects of a slowing global market.
Shares in Renault, which owns 43.4% of Japanese manufacturer Nissan , were largely unchanged after publication of the company’s quarterly results.
Investors had already digested the news about weaker revenue since the company issued a profit warning last week, which Delbos said was partly due to a decline in sales to partners.
Besides selling Renault-branded vehicles, the company also uses its plants to manufacture vehicles for its partner, Nissan, and for Daimler , and it is a specialist in making diesel engines for other automakers.
Sales of the vehicles it makes for partners have slowed, with a knock-on effect on Renault’s revenues, while demand for diesel engines in Europe has declined.
Renault said those effects were compounded by the closure of the Iranian market since last year as a result of U.S. trade sanctions.
