However, the benefit from higher-priced new models – known as the product mix – declined from 3% in the first half of the year to less than 1%, the “only disappointment” from the results, Oddo BHF analysts said.
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The automaker’s shares opened up 1%, before reversing course to trade down 1% at 0740 GMT.
It is also facing rising competition from Chinese automakers, putting it under pressure to maintain a rapid pace of new launches started under de Meo.
Revenues totalled 11.4 billion euros ($13.3 billion) for July-September, up 6.8% year-on-year, and higher than the 6.2% rise forecast by analysts in a company poll.
Sales volumes rose 9.8% to 529,486 vehicles.
New models accounted for 30% of quarterly sales, up from 28% earlier this year and 25% at the end of last year, Chief Financial Officer Duncan Minto told reporters.
The lower product mix benefit was due to a tough comparison against the year before, added Minto, but he predicted a higher benefit in the fourth quarter, particularly from the Dacia Bigster, a compact crossover SUV.
Renault said it was confident about the end of the year, given a “high-single-digits” increase in its order intake.
Price pressure in Europe is also stabilising at under 2%, added Minto, seen by Morningstar analyst Rella Suskin as “positive for the industry”.
Renault reaffirmed its forecast for an operating margin of about 6.5% in 2025, and free cash flow of 1.0 billion to 1.5 billion euros.
However, it remains under pressure to control costs in a “challenging” environment, said Minto, adding that keeping capital spending and R&D expenditure to no more than 8% of revenues would be a key focus in its upcoming strategic plan.
Despite planned cost reductions, Suskin said she expected a “softening of margins over the long run”.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
Reporting by Dominique Patton and Gilles Guillaume. Editing by Jamie Freed and Mark Potter
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