In addition, as part of its commitment to reduce the environmental impacts of its cars at each stage of their life cycle, eco2 vehicles must now:

• Be manufactured at an ISO 14001-certified plant
• Contain at least 7% recycled plastic (up from 5% previously) and be designed so that 95% of their mass can be recovered at end-of-life.

The company also says that it is lowering the target for its average new car emissions in Europe from 120g/km in 2013 to less than 100g/km in 2016.

The firm's efforts paid off recently in the carbon ranking established by British NGO, Environmental Investment Organisation (EIO), in which it came out top as the company in the automotive sector emitting the least CO2 in Europe. Renault also won a prize in the production category at the Sustainable Energy Awards for its plant in Tangiers.