Renault has invested a total of €308m in its Cléon plant in Normandy, France, in preparation for production of the 2.0 dCi (M9R) engine and a new six-speed gearbox (PK4).
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The powertrain was developed jointly by Renault and Nissan. The engine is currently available in 150hp and 175hp versions, in the Laguna, Megane, Scenic and Espace. Around 1,000 engines are produced each week, although this will rise to 8,000 a week as the engine starts to appear on more models.
The M9R was developed at a cost of €500m, €250m of which was for capital expenditure. €51m was invested to introduce new technologies. Costs were kept down by re-using cylinder head machining, camshaft and conrod lines from existing production. For example it took €9m to set up the cylinder head line for the M9R, whereas a new line would have cost more than €30m.
A total of €58m was invested in the plant for the PK4 manual gearbox, designed to match the M9R engine. Capacity at the plant is 5,000 gearboxes a week.
Cléon also produces the F9 (1.9 dCi) and G9 (2.2 dCi) diesel engines and the F4 (2.0) petrol engine, as well as P and J gearboxes. Over 5,000 people are employed at the plant.
Renault’s main engine and gearbox plants are Cléon, Ruitz and Douvrin in France, Seville and Valladolid in Spain, Cacia in Portugal, Pitesti in Romania, Bursa in Turkey, Curitiba in Brazil and Busan in Korea.
