Renault faces tough task staying Europe's No. 2 brand as product push slows

Over the past two years, Renault has overtaken Ford and Opel to become the second-largest brand in Europe by unit sales, riding the momentum from a wave of stylish new models, especially in the hot crossover segment. But analysts say that success will be harder to maintain in 2017 as growth in the overall European market slows and the product pipeline empties out. The European auto market is widely expected to increase by only about 2 percent in 2017, compared with 6.5 percent last year.