Can you tell us about your previous experiences and the fact you are now working for Renault?
Well frankly I’ve worked all over the world. I’m from Holland and there’s not much of a car industry in Holland so you have to go outside to learn the trade. I went to Italy, I worked in Italy 3 years, then I went to Audi in Germany, Ford in the US, Mazda in Japan, finally I arrived at Renault in France.
Of course it was a huge step to leave Japan, leave friends and family, come back to Europe. So on one side it feels like I’m coming home on the other side it’s a huge step for me and my family.
But I had to learn French but I’m still learning though it’s gotten better now. I’ve found people to be very nice. They welcomed me. Finally I’m very happy to be here.
Your inspiration for design. A break with the past or a continuity?
Renault Design’s reputation is huge and is very famous. The idea to work with a design team like this was very exciting. Renault is a brand that has the human in the center so we’re looking at creating designs that are very human, more sensual, very exciting, very warm, and we’re going to bring a lot of passion back into the brand.
But at the same time I know that with my arrival and the state of the industry it’s really necessary to change that’s why our signature is “drive the change”. So the changes we are going to do in design is much more of a break with the past and it’ll be very exciting.
Three words that represent Renault for you?
Human, warm, innovation and of course joie de vivre, a French aspect that is very important to me. Renault is part of the fabric of France. It’s a very important market for us. Renault is the biggest one in France. Of course Renault has played a huge, a big part of the history of France and we’re very woven into the fabric so I think it’s a very positive point and I think it’s something that we can use in the future.
Is a neo-retro approach envisaged at Renault Design?
It’s always very interesting to look at your past. At Renault I think of all the brands, has a very, very rich history. There is plenty of icons in the past. but since I just started, my job is to create the future first. So I think in the beginning I want to make sure we create a new history for Renault and then, when it’s necessary, we’ll look at the past and see if we can create some exciting vehicles on top of that.
Your vision of a future premium car?
Well I think it’s a big part of what Renault’s about. I think if you were a generalist brand like Renault is, it’s important to have an offer that goes from small cars to sports cars to utility vehicles and of course also the bigger cars so big sedans, big monospace. And we are working really hard on it, how to redefine it for the future and it’s going to be a central part of our strategy.
A landmark for your future realizations?
Well, the first projects that we are working on in the and the fastest that you will see are the concept cars. So already in the Paris Mondial in October you will see the very first of a series of concept cars that we are creating in the design team right now. And because it’s the first one it has some of the key elements that you will see appear on the production vehicles. like an identity, a certain a foreign language and you’ll see that it’s a very passionate vehicle. Then we’ll use the things we learned with our concept cars on our production vehicles and the first one to really apply all of these things will be the new Clio, so Clio 4 in 2012 around.
Which place for the ecologicazl matter in the future design of Renault?
Renault is a company that’s very innovative and that’s is one of the things that attracted me tremendously to come to France. And I think Renault is very close in taking a leadership role in the electric vehicles. It’s fantastic that you can have vehicles for everybody that have zero emissions. in terms of the role that they play it’s really the chance for us to create an image of leadership and for that reason alone we support it very much. now from our side in design we need to make sure we communicate the values of electricity so it’s cleanliness, serenity, how to design silence, these are the words we are playing with in the series of electric vehicles that we’re creating at the moment.
Will new models be created especially for the international?
Because we are a generalist brand and because we make cars for people from all walks of life we need to make sure we have a very wide range and it’s true that we are very strong in the emerging markets like South America but also Russia and also India where we have started to create the first studios. to help this we have a studio in Sao Paulo for instance, a small design studio right in the heart of the city. We also have a studio in Mumbai, India, we have a studio in Korea, we have a studio in Eastern Europe in Bucharest. So we try to be everywhere where we can learn something about the people, their needs and then to develop the cars specifically for them.
Renault, Dacia, Renault Samsung Motors... Three brands, three designs?
For me if you have three brands, three marks, it’s 3 opportunities to attract people. My goal, with the design team, is to create a separation of the brands. We have a clear Renault, a clear Dacia, and a clear Renault Samsung Motors. And of course, there is still a lot of work to be done because you know some of these brands are still very young. Dacia (as part of the Renault Group) is not even 10 years old recently and also Renault Samsung Motors is not very old. So it’s a very exciting time to join Renault at this time to create these brands of the future. I couldn’t think of a better place to be right now.
Thank you very much Laurens van den Acker. Many thanks to all the Renault fans who asked so many interesting questions on renault.com and Facebook.