Ooh la la, look at these prices!

Renault is set to make big inroads on the local market with cars thousands of dollars cheaper than a few years ago. ALASTAIR SLOANE checks out what you'll get for your money.

French carmaker Renault first arrived in New Zealand in the early 60s, when Tricolour five-eighth Pierre Albaladejo was drop-kicking goals on every muddy rugby ground in the country.

It was a sporadic start, with a couple of cars here and there. But like Albaladejo in 1961 and Tricolour tourists Pierre Villepreux, Jo Maso and Walter Spanghero in 1968, Renault left an impression.

It sort of came and went. Some cars were good, some ordinary. At best it was a marginal player, testing the market every now and then in a superior French kind of way to try and make an impression.

But it never spent much money backing dealers. Its range of vehicles was limited. Its support services were ordinary. Its cars cost too much.

Not any more. Renault, the best-selling marque in Europe and mindful of its hit-and-miss history in New Zealand and Australia, is promising a new deal based on investment, a dealer network, innovative design and class-leading equipment and prices.

Basically, it needs New Zealand more than New Zealand needs it. We are no longer a Pacific outpost, a market into which it could fling a few cars now and again to back up the numbers it was doing in New Caledonia and Tahiti.

New Zealand is part of Renault's Asia-Pacific market, an area vital to the carmaker's worldwide expansion plans, especially now that it has bought a controlling interest in Nissan.

More of that later. First, the money, the dosh, the bread, the Oxford scholars, the folding stuff ... what the range from Renault is going to cost.

Renault executives kept hinting in an "I've got a secret" kind of way that the price of the Clio, Megane and Laguna would surprise.

It did. The old days of premium pricing for Renault have gone. The range for New Zealand is tens of thousands of dollars cheaper than just a few years ago.

Cop this lot:
*1.4-litre manual Clio $21,990

*1.6-litre automatic Clio $25,990

*1.6-litre manual Megane $29,990

*1.6-litre automatic Megane $31,990

*1.6-litre automatic Megane cabriolet $42,500

*1.6-litre manual Megane Scenic $29,990

*2.0-litre automatic Megane Scenic $33,990

*2.0-litre automatic Laguna liftback $39,990

*3.0-litre automatic Laguna liftback $49,990.

The five-door Clio is Renault's popular small car, the best-selling small car in Germany, incidentally.

The five-speed manual, for the price, is the best equipped small car on the New Zealand market.

It comes with anti-lock ABS brakes, dual front airbags, seatbelt pre-tensioners and air-conditioning.

The automatic Clio gets all of the above plus side airbags built into the front seats. There are all sorts of other goodies as well.

The Megane hatchback and Scenic people-mover are similarly equipped. So too is the Laguna.

The Megane/Scenic range is Europe's best-seller. It first arrived here a couple of years ago and has had moderate success since.

But the price then for the 2.0-litre Scenic, for example, was around $42,000, nearly $10,000 more than today's upgraded model.

The Megane cabriolet is a newcomer to New Zealand. It, like the rest of the Megane/Scenic range, uses the 16-valve version of Renault's 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine.

The Laguna is the car with which Renault won the British Touring Car championships. It too turned up here a couple of years ago, but at a price which wasn't competitive.

The 2.0-litre Laguna back then was about $10,000 more expensive; the 3.0-litre was nearly $20,000 dearer. The 3.0-litre Laguna engine is the same as that used by Citroen in its Xantia and Peugeot in its 406, but, in Peugeot's case at least, it is about $60,000.

The aggressive pricing is part of Renault's push in the Asia-Pacific for an increased share of the market.

Last year, Renault sold about 5000 vehicles in the region for a negligible share. This year it aims to sell 10,000 by expanding existing markets and opening new ones.

By 2002 it wants sales of 40,000 vehicles in Asia-Pacific for 2 per cent of the market, and by 2010 it wants 200,000 sales for 6 per cent.

There will some rebadging done with partner Nissan but Renault isn't yet sure in which markets. A Renault light truck might be badged Nissan for Thailand, for example, and a Nissan four-wheel-drive might wear a Renault badge in Europe. Renault will use Nissan's North American market to break into the United States.

Both carmakers will use each other's plants, Nissan using Renault's South American operation, for example, and Renault using Nissan's Asian setup.

The alliance will mean savings in research and development and the use of common platforms and components like gearboxes.

As far as New Zealand is concerned, Renault aims to be selling more than 700 cars a year by 2002 to be one of the top three European brands.

It admits it's an ambitious plan, despite the excellent pricing.