New Laguna aims to put Renault on the quality map

Renault’s new Laguna is not designed to be a radical new shape on the road. Instead Programme director Patrice Ratti believes the new Laguna’s job is “to establish that Renault can make upper-range cars of good quality”.

This is one of the core objectives of Renault chairman Carlos Ghosn’s Commitment 2009 turnaround plan for the company. Indeed, Ghosn put pressure on Renault management by specifically naming Laguna as part of the plan, setting the target of putting Laguna in the top 3 in its class in terms of quality.

“Actually that helped the project to be successful. As he made Laguna a symbol of Renault quality, everyone in the company has been behind the project,” Ratti said. He admitted Renault thought about changing the car’s name. but decided against, as “it’s more symbolic to make a Laguna of very good quality than changing the name”.

With a 3-year, 100,000-mile warranty and a high-quality interior, Ratti believes customers will look seriously at the car. “Then when they test drive it they’ll be convinced it’s a very good car.”

Almost every component has been redesigned – most famously including the ignition and entry key card, which proved fragile in use on the old Laguna, leaving drivers stranded. “We understood why it went wrong and completely redesigned it,” Ratti said. “But we were not tempted to go back to a key as the card is very convenient.”