From the top of the stairs leading up to his office, Renault Luxembourg director looks out over the Gasperich showroom, currently located within the company’s headquarters in the grand duchy. Soon, tables and chairs will have replaced the cars emblazoned with the diamond logo. The building, , is due to .
To allow work to begin, “we will be leaving Gasperich on 30 June 2024,” said Voisin. Where will the 140 employees on the 33,000m2 site go? “We can distinguish between three activities: Renault’s head office, the traditional business [sales of new and used Renault, Dacia and Alpine vehicles] and the central activity of the country’s bodywork and spare parts shop.”
The administrative and bodywork/store departments, which together employ around one hundred people, will move to Belval. The dealership and its forty or so employees, to Bertrange.
A move in several stages
Work began at the beginning of September on the new headquarters at 136 route de Belval, where Air Liquide used to be based. As well as housing the two segments mentioned above, the 17,000m2 site will include “sales activity for companies and secondhand vehicles.” This will be done in cooperation with staff at the Renault dealership in Esch-sur-Alzette--which will actually not move to Belval, . There were “opportunities that have not necessarily come to fruition for the time being,” stated Voisin. The group also plans to invest in a “body shop with very modern equipment.”
The 5,000m2 dealership in Bertrange will open earlier: in January, on route de Longwy, on the former Autofactoria site. Just in time for the Autofestival (20 January to 3 February 2024). This is “very good news for our customers,” who will “very probably” be able to take advantage of two locations, with the Gasperich site still in place. The new showroom will house the Renault and Dacia brands, both new and used, as well as the garage.
What about Alpine? The brand will benefit from a dedicated space within the . In the meantime, it will remain available to customers “either from Bertrange, or from a temporary site, we’ll see.”
Route de Longwy
“We’ve been on the move for a year,” said Voisin. The amounts invested and earned from the sale of the Gasperich site have not been disclosed. The company will be a tenant in Bertrange. The building at Belval “belongs to us with a building lease from the municipality,” .
The decision to leave Gasperich had been taken by the previous shareholder, Renault Retail Group, The choice of new locations is “in line with history,” stated Voisin. “In our business, we need to be as close as possible to our customers. In Bertrange, we’re moving back 400 metres from where we were 35 years ago. We were pioneers in 1989 in Gasperich, which was a cornfield before it became a business district. Today, for our customers, we are the only ones in this business. It’s more convenient for them to come to route de Longwy than it is for us to come to Gasperich alone.” As for Belval, he is delighted to be part of “the new life of a district.”
Originally published in French by and translated for Delano