EV costs, regulations drive Renault's decision to cut engine lineup

PARIS -- Renault's decision to have only a single gasoline engine family for Europe by 2025 reflects the increasing costs of emissions regulations and the need to shift resources toward electrification, CEO Luca de Meo says. 
 
The automaker now has eight core engine families, including four gasoline engines, three diesel engines and an electric motor.  
 
Under de Meo's Renaulution strategic plan, that lineup will be pared to a single gasoline family, with a new 1.2 liter 3-cylinder engine; a single diesel for light-commercial vehicles; and two electric motors, with a hybrid hydrogen/battery electric drivetrain for some LCVs.  
 
"We're going for a very extreme rationalization on the combustion engine side, a little like Volvo did in the premium segment a few years ago," de Meo said in an interview with Automotive News Europe. Volvo Cars announced in 2017 that it would not be developing any new internal combustion engines and that all new models starting in 2019 would have electrified drivetrains (mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid or full electric). 
 
The announcement by Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelson set off a wave of similar pledges from automakers that have signaled the end of the internal combustion engine.