Corresponds to a Renault Mégane, blue Iron and equipped with an Energy TCe 130 engine, produced in the Engine Factory of Valladolid, and with an automatic gearbox. Its destination is a German customer

On January 2, 1978, the production of the Renault Factory in Palencia began. During these 40 years 13 different models have passed through their production chains and 7 million units have been produced, of which 66% have been of the Mégane model in their different generations.

The first model that manufactured the plant was a Renault 12 TS Confort of white color of which they came to manufacture 20,660 units. This was the start of this factory, which was born with the aim of expanding the production capacity of the Valladolid factory and which, after four decades of operation, has become a benchmark within the Group in terms of quality, safety and competitiveness.

Throughout these forty years, in addition to the Renault 12, Renault 18, Renault 14, Renault 9, Renault 11, Renault 21, Renault 19, Renault Laguna, Renault Kadjar and 4 generations of Mégane have been produced; model this last one that has marked the history of the factory.

At 9.45 this morning the vehicle 7 million left the production line. It is a Renault Mégane, blue Iron and equipped with the Energy TCe 130 engine, produced in the Engine Factory of Valladolid, and an automatic gearbox. Its destination is a German customer.

“The professionalism of the people and the enthusiasm to improve each day, guarantee that our plant continues to be the main engine of local employment in the Region and an important contributor to the results of the Renault Group and the Alliance”, assures the director of the Factory, José Martín Vega.

It must be remembered that the Palencia Factory produces today Mégane Berlina, Mégane Sport Tourer and Mégane R.S., as well as Kadjar, which is industrialized exclusively for Europe. The plant is now in full digital transformation to be at the head of the industry 4.0; characterized by a connected, agile and competitive production, which puts the customer at the center of all operations.

40 years of history
“After being received by the president of Fasa, Mr. Rodríguez Pomata, Mr. Juan Carlos and Ms. Sofía made a detailed visit to all the sections, where they received different explanations about the operation and operation, and where they talked and greeted the workers.” In this way ABC collected the inaugural visit that the then Kings of Spain, Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofía, made on October 10, 1978 to the facilities that the French firm had placed throughout that year and progressively in Villamuriel of Cerrato (Palencia) -in Valladolid he did it much earlier, back in 1951-, as our colleagues at ABC Castilla y León remember. Although then the royal visit was part of a trip that the monarchs made in Palencia to know the problems of the province, the truth is the Crown’s support for the diamond factory has been constant in the almost four decades that is about to comply. Not in vain twenty years later, in 1997, the monarchs repeated a visit to the Palencia headquarters.

«The real visit coincided with the departure of vehicle 2.083.646 from the Palencia model, the result of an investment of 23,000 million pesetas that, thanks to the laboriousness of the staff and the incorporation of the most sophisticated techniques and production methods, it has become one of the most productive of the multinational (…). Yesterday’s visit – Don Juan Carlos Doña Sofía spoke with some of the 800 workers who remain in it since the long day of the inauguration – was not born only of a nostalgic logic towards a moment of illusion, as is the beginning. It also aims to express the support of the Crown to that backbone of the national economy … “, then picked up the chronicle.

After the aforementioned change to three shifts in 1997, the factory continued with a continuous path of development that would allow it, among other things, to reach the manufacturing record in 2004, with a total of 1,400 vehicles per day and reaching 288,751 total cars at the end of that period, a figure that has not been repeated so far. It is true that in the following years the production dropped, but, again, in 2009 there is a rebound that solidifies in 2010, manufacturing up to 1,190 vehicles a day. At the end of that same year, the production of the Palencia factory amounts to 5,373,745, a figure that results from the work of all these past years.

Far from falling into oblivion for the company, the plant has a more than promising future, all thanks to the award of the III Industrial Plan 2017-2020. Although in total 2,000 new jobs will be created between Valladolid and Palencia, specifically the Villamuriel de Cerrato plant will incorporate just half of the workers of the whole (1,000 workers) for the implementation of a new shift on Sunday to meet the demand of the Renault Kadjar, where this model is manufactured, and which is one of the company’s flagships since 2015.