The Blainville-sur-Orne plant shows Renault Trucks keeping diesel and electric output on one site as electric truck demand matures
Renault Trucks’ Blainville-sur-Orne plant in Normandy, which builds cabs for the truckmaker’s whole range, is marking 70 years of vehicle production. Having become, by its own account, Europe’s first site to start series output of electric trucks in 2020, the plant has since built more than 3,000 E-Tech D and D Wide models.
The Calvados factory employs 2,400 people and assembles medium-duty trucks in both diesel and electric form. E-truck output covers the 12- to 16-tonne E-Tech D and the 19- and 26-tonne E-Tech D Wide, used in urban delivery, refuse collection, fire and emergency services and construction.
Volume alone tells only part of the story. A 2,500 m² customer adaptation centre opened at the plant in 2021, letting specialist teams fit bespoke equipment or make larger modifications before trucks leave the factory.
The site began as a shipyard, Chantiers Navals Français, which built cargo and naval vessels from 1917 until it closed in 1954. Renault subsidiary Saviem opened a vehicle plant there two years later, with ownership passing in 1978 to Renault Véhicules Industriels and in 2001 to the Volvo Group.
Military trucks, heavy-duty ranges and vans have all come off its lines. The Saviem SG light commercial range alone reached 292,500 gasoline and diesel units between 1965 and 1988, while Euro VI rules prompted a full range renewal in 2013 that introduced the D and D Wide built there today.
Source: Renault Trucks
Source: www.automotiveworld.com
