Buckle up and get ready to shift into the future with Renault as they blaze trails into the world of Web3! This iconic automotive brand is putting the pedal to the metal when it comes to innovation.
R3NLT marks the beginning of an exciting new era for Renault as they merge their rich heritage with cutting-edge technology.
Renault has embraced Web3 and NFTs as part of its strategic plan to transform into a green, tech-focused company under CEO Luca de Meo.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the iconic Renault R5 model, it launched its first NFT collection “genR5” featuring 1972 3D animated NFTs in four tiers offering real-world benefits.
This accessible collection aligns with Renault’s community-building approach.
– The genR5 collection consisted of 1972 unique 3D animated NFTs paying tribute to the iconic Renault R5 model on its 50th anniversary.
– There were 4 tiers of NFTs represent different R5 models:
1) 100 ‘Electric R5’ NFTs – reflecting Renault’s early electric vehicles. Benefits include airdrops, test drives, prototype discovery.
2) 160 ‘R5 Turbo’ NFTs – symbolizing Renault’s sporty edge. Benefits include airdrops and access to future drops.
3) 450 ‘R5 Le Car Van’ NFTs – a limited French series with American styling. Benefits include airdrops and VIP access to Roland Garros events.
4) 1262 ‘R5 TL’ NFTs – representing the city car revolution. Benefits include factory visits and access to events.
– Additional benefits for NFT holders included whitelist access, co-creation opportunities, exclusive merchandise, and supporting Renault’s CSR initiative.
– The different tiers and real-world utility through events, merchandise and experiences made the genR5 collection innovative and engaging for the community.
Its second NFT collection featured 960 digital sneakers with physical counterparts containing NFC chips that act as certificates of authenticity.
The immersive 3D showroom and AR features provided an innovative shopping experience. The integration of digital NFTs with physical products demonstrates Renault’s commitment to blending automotive heritage and Web3.
Over the past year, Renault has established itself as an automotive pioneer in the Web3 space through thoughtful NFT collections that engage communities. The focus is on providing utility through exclusive experiences and innovative integrations of digital and physical elements.
One year after the launch of the first collection, it is time to make a first review, to assess 2023 performance, see what worked, what didn’t work, and look to what could be the next steps for Renault in Web3. And for other brands, what can they learn from this experience?
1. Scale
How powerful was the operation, and what was the level of engagement?
1972 NFTs of GENR5 were sold; these NFTs were allocated in 1072 wallets in January 2023, and in 1020 wallets in December 2023 (-4,8%).
If we look at the number of transfers, we notice that the rotation rate is divided by 10 between January and December.
| Month | Number of Transfers | Rotation rate |
| 2023-01-01 | 107 | 9,98% |
| 2023-02-01 | 81 | 7,56% |
| 2023-03-01 | 33 | 3,08% |
| 2023-04-01 | 34 | 3,17% |
| 2023-05-01 | 40 | 3,73% |
| 2023-06-01 | 11 | 1,03% |
| 2023-07-01 | 5 | 0,47% |
| 2023-08-01 | 4 | 0,37% |
| 2023-09-01 | 9 | 0,84% |
| 2023-10-01 | 9 | 0,84% |
| 2023-11-01 | 2 | 0,19% |
| 2023-12-01 | 10 | 0,98% |
The year started with a relatively high volume of exchanges in January (107 transfers), suggesting significant interest or activity right after the launch or during early adoption.
February maintained a somewhat high level of activity (81 transfers) but then saw a marked decrease in the following months.
From March onwards, there was a noticeable decline in trading activity, reaching the lowest points in July and August (5 and 4 transfers, respectively).
Web3 Automotive => Our Opinion :
The initial high trading volume followed by a gradual decrease could reflect the typical lifecycle of NFT collections, where initial excitement leads to high trading volumes, which then taper off as the market matures or as initial interest wanes.
2. Pricing:
How price evolved overtime?
Let’s introduce to pricing variable to understand better the dynamic of GenR5 NFT collection
The graph above illustrates the trading volume (number of transfers) and price evolution (average and maximum prices in ETH) of GenR5 NFTs throughout 2023:
- The blue bars represent the monthly trading volume of NFTs.
- The red line with circle markers shows the average price of NFTs each month.
- The green line with cross markers represents the maximum price of NFTs each month.
The average price of GenR5 NFTs shows a downward trend through most of 2023, starting from a higher average in the early months and reaching lower levels in the middle of the year.
The maximum price reached its peak in January (1.2000 ETH), suggesting high-value transactions at the start of the year.
Web3 Automotive => Our opinion :
Trading Volume and Price Correlation: Initially, both the trading volume and prices are relatively high, indicating strong market activity and interest. However, as the year progresses, both metrics show a declining trend.
The recruitment phase of an NFT program and exchange dynamic lasts 3 months. After this initial period, all is happening between the brand and the community.
3. Owners :
What is the profile of the owners and how they evolved overtime?
There are 953 wallets that are common to both January and December 2023. This means that these wallets held GenR5 NFTs at both the beginning and the end of the year, indicating a certain level of retention or sustained interest in the collection over this period.
- The left circle represents the number of unique wallets exclusive to January 2023.
- The right circle represents the number of unique wallets exclusive to December 2023.
- The overlapping area in the middle indicates the number of common wallets that were present in both January and December 2023.
This diagram provides a clear visualization of the continuity and change in wallet participation in the GenR5 NFT community over the course of the year.
- Unique January: Wallets unique to the January 2023 dataset.
- Unique December: Wallets unique to the December 2023 dataset.
- Common Jan-Dec: Wallets common to both January and December 2023 datasets.
In January, GenR5 mostly attracted profiles with low balance in their wallets (Uniques January and Common January-December), more interestingly, GenR5 attracted high net worth wallets during the year.
This is confirmed by the number of NFT owned by each cluster
The less web3 mature profiles acquired GenR5 in January and hold the NFT in their wallet through the year, on the other hand.
The most web3 mature profiles with high level of Crypto and high number of NFT entered the program during the year.
Web3 Automotive => Our Opinion
The first community of GenR5, were newcomers to web3, and they kept their NFT through the year.
The quality of animation of the community, the decrease of price and the added value to the NFT ownership that was added during the year, attracted mature web3 wallets.
This is probably the effect of the second NFT drop by R3NLT : Racing Shoes
4. Proximity :
Which programs looks most like R3NLT?
“RACING SHOE5”: This program has the highest percentage of commonality with GenR5, significantly more than the others. In fact, in order to acquire a Racing Shoes NFT, you must own a GenR5.
Which means, that 20%+ of GenR5 acquired a Racing shoes, this is a very high conversion rate.
What we learn from top common programs is very interesting :
- GenR5 is perfectly targeted attracting many french (and european programs) : NFT Biarritz, 20 Minutes
- GenR5 shares many wallets with other car manufacturers and automotive related companies : Alpine, Mercedes-Benz NXT, Michelin 3xplorer
- Finally, we notice that program promise “Nostalgy” of Renault 5 and the link between the past and the future is well integrated by owners as they also own : Le Parisien Crypto-une (selection of historic magazine covers of Le Parisien)
Web3 Automotive => Our Opinion
A very well targeted program, recruiting affinity profiles
5. WHAT’S NEXT
The launch of the new Renault 5
Pre-launch started in 2024, and the new model should be available by the end of the year
Renault learned a lot with :
- GenR5: How to launch an NFT collection, How to recruit and animate a web3 community, How to bring added value to the community, What are the best channels of recruitment in web3…
- Racing Shoe: How to launch and distribute a Phygital offer, How to recruit clients to a phygital offer, how to create and manage an immersive experience…
3 sets of data are missing (not public / not yet available) to fully assess the performance :
- What was the level of earned media generated by the community? and what is the final value of this earned media? How does it compare to social media and to other channels
- What is the level of satisfaction of R3NLT owners? Are they ready to buy R3NLT next collection and recommend it?
- How many leads, sales this operation generated? How many community members bought a new Renault 5?
We hope Renault will leverage all these learning to launch new web3 initiatives in the future.
