Tan Sri Tony Fernandes has teamed up with European car maker Renault to design, develop and build future sports vehicles including sports utility vehicle (SUV) and city cars that are affordable to the mass market. The first car will roll out from the production line in 2015.
Fernandes’ Caterham Group and Renault ASA unit, Automobiles Alpine Renault company, signed a deal in Paris yesterday in which both parties would have equal 50:50 equity stake in a new joint venture known as The Socit des Automobiles Alpine, to design, develop and build future sports vehicles.
“Asia will be a big part of this investment and there will be two manufacturing hubs, one each in Europe (Dieppe Plant in Normandy in France) and Asia (in Malaysia). We will work with a factory (Naza Motors plant) in Malaysia and use the Malaysian auto (support) chain,” he told StarBiz from Paris yesterday.