ING Pulling out of Renault sponsorship?

[King Six]

Dunno what some of you guys are saying. BBC says ING have pulled out of Renault with IMMEDIATE effect.

Which leaves them without two sponsors, one major one for Singapore. The car is going to look funky.

Does anyone else think this might spell the end for Renault, I hope not, but it might be out of their hands now

[mx_tifoso]

ING was on the way out anyways, so as long as there is no financial consequence for the rest of the season I don't expect a huge problem for Renault. A new title sponsor is being brought in either way.

And getting that lazy lion off of the livery is a win/win situation.

[ESPImperium]

I have to aggree with you MX Tifosi. No great loss for either ING or MM.

I have a feeling that Renault could have the cars resprayed in the classis yellow and black of old turbo days for Brazil as i feel that they will ditch the Orange and white anyways.

Something like this for a livery would be killer. Would really stand out on the TV and be diffrent to the current mish-mash of colour:

[modbaraban]

I officially promise to forget about Crashgate if they do it!

[Giblet]

No matter how the livery looks it has to looks better without Flav leaning on it.

I just had a thought... what if Bennetton decided they wanted to become a title sponsor?

Renault is probably aware they would be better off as a brand to remain in F1. Bailing now would make them look like they have been defeated by a couple of cheaters and or can't keep their house in order.

It is true that Flav was the one running the team, but Renault were the ones that had him flaunting their brand.

Speaking of livery, the Ferraris would look sooooo much better to me with the flat black front and rear wings of the past.

[Rob W]

I think it says an awful lot about the moral standards within those companies that they use a flimsy excuse to renege on a previously agreed deal.

Flimsy? Are you kidding? I can't think of any more appropriate reason to cancel a sponsorship agreement than a partner acting completely immorally and to the detriment of all other parties involved in the sport - drivers, teams, fans etc. All large sponsorship agreements would have ethical/disrepute 'out' clauses which either party can trigger.

Banks use reliability/trust as a key marketing angle. I think Renault's actions sort of runs against their marketing aims.

[ISLAMATRON]

Renault now have no choice but to get rid of that hideous livery.

[Confused_Andy]

How the car could look tomorrow:

By dank on the Autosport forum.

Looks so cool imo, Dunno why people have a problem with the orange, its a more modern colour scheme compared to the harsh yellow and black. But still, I'd prefer Renault to have huge Renault & Elf badges

Plus, Renault shouldnt be hit too hard with this, say Brawn lost their sponsors, they would die straight away, Renault is an engine supplier so they should have some cash flow from that...

[sknguy]

Those colours look too much like a famous heavy equipment manufacturer (caterpillar) here in North America.

Personally I'd prefer the older yellow and black on white livery.



But I think Confused_Andy's photo might be more accurate in the short term.

[xpensive]

It is an excuse for companies to get out of sponsor deals and save money.

Agreed, the way I apreciate the situation is that sponsors and manufacturers alike are using whatever reason at hand to get out of a money-burning xercise during hard times. Coupled to a self-righteous "holier-than-thou" attitude of course.

[raceman]

eager to see how the R29 will look from Singapore onwards.....

[Rob W]

I'm still surprised anyone would view ING's departure as anything other than plain good business on their part.

I struggle to think of more appropriate grounds for a sponsor to end their arrangement early than when a team has acted completely immorally, broken tons of rules, recklessly endangered driver/fans/marshall's lives, not to mention acted unsportsmanlike and basically played everyone in the sport for mugs.

I don't blame them if the first thing in their minds wasn't, Yeah, lets keep giving money to these people who just associated our brand with cheating, lying and underhanded activities.

[noname]

Banks use reliability/trust as a key marketing angle.

with all respect. banks, and the whole financial industry, sold their moral standards long time ago. reliability and trustworthiness are the words they forgot.

[Fil]

Banks use reliability/trust as a key marketing angle.

with all respect. banks, and the whole financial industry, sold their moral standards long time ago. reliability and trustworthiness are the words they forgot.

what they do and what image they portray themselves as via marketing are two completely different & separate things..

[Rob W]

what they do and what image they portray themselves as via marketing are two completely different & separate things..

This ^ .