It was assumed that the Chinese-made mid-size Limo sedan would become popular with taxi drivers and provide a strong start to the Mobilize brand in Europe, but Renault Group strategists We miscalculated, the first pancake turned out to be lumpy.
Renault Group launched its subsidiary brand Mobilize in 2021, which is aimed at alternative forms of car ownership — subscriptions, carsharing, taxis and leasing. At the time of the launch of Mobilize, Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo believed that this new business line would generate 20% of the French company's revenue by 2030. The debut market for Mobilize was Europe, the debut model with its own Mobilize emblem (crossed out circle) — the electric sedan Limo, it entered the market last summer. In the future, it was planned to bring Mobilize to the markets of Morocco, Russia, Turkey and China — it is unknown whether these plans are still relevant or not, it is only clear that Russia is definitely not in them anymore.
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In 2020, the Renault brand left the Chinese market due to too modest sales, but retained the electric vehicle business — budget electric cross-hatchbacks Dacia Spring come to Europe from China, and the Mobilize Limo sedan was developed as part of a joint venture with Jiangling Motors Corporation Group. in China it is known as JMEV Yi, its logo is stylized as a Renault diamond.
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The overall length of the Mobilize Limo is 4670 mm, the wheelbase is 2750 mm. The trunk volume is small — 411 liters, but in the second row it is very spacious, passengers feel comfortable. Limo is driven by a single electric motor on the front axle (150 hp, 220 Nm) and is powered by a battery with a capacity of 60 kWh, the range on one charge is 450 km according to the WLTP cycle, the electric sedan accelerates to 100 km/h in 9 .6 s, maximum speed is limited to 140 km/h.
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In general, Mobilize Limo seems to be a good option for taxis, but for ordinary taxi drivers it turned out to be unaffordable, and for VIP taxis it was too simple. The French newspaper Largus, citing a Mobilize representative, reports that Limo has already been withdrawn from sales; we did not find it on the Mobilize consumer website. The official report of the Renault Group at the end of September indicates that last year only 67 copies of Mobilize Limo were sold, this year 7 are, of course, crumbs considering how huge the European market for taxis and alternative cab services is.
Mobilize offered to rent Limo for 1,499 euros per month for a year and a half with a mileage limit of 150,000 km for the entire period. Largus quotes the words of a French taxi driver: he says that in order to recoup the rent, you need to work behind the Limo steering wheel for more than 12 hours a day and still find time and place to charge the battery. In short, Limo failed in the taxi market, and for private rental (personal use) in Europe, completely different cars are needed, and Mobilize will have them.
Mobilize Duo and Mobilize Bento
Next spring, Mobilize will introduce electric quadricycles Duo and Bento to the market with much more affordable tariffs. These “babies,” of course, are addressed not to taxi drivers, but to car sharing fleets and small businesses, but competition in this segment is high, there are many alternative models, so it’s not a fact that Mobilize Duo and Bento will take off. If they don’t shoot, then it will be time to talk about the failure of the Mobilize business model, and then this will be the first major failure of Luca de Meo as head of the Renault Group.