PARIS (AFP) – French automaker Renault unveiled a sweeping green revamp yesterday, splitting its operations in two: a new electric vehicle unit and a subsidiary for petrol, diesel and hybrid cars that will pair up with China’s Geely.
The car maker’s flagship division following the reorganisation will be Ampere, which will aim to produce a million electric vehicles by 2031, the group said ahead of an investor day in Paris.
The new division will employ around 10,000 staff in France.
The overhaul comes amid expectations the electric vehicle market will grow rapidly in response to consumers’ worries about climate change, putting pressure on manufacturers to develop less polluting products.
The European Union last month agreed to phase out new CO2-emitting vehicles by 2035, a move set to turbo-charge the production of electric prototypes on the continent.
Ampere will produce the new Renault 5 and Renault 4 among other models in northern France and will target more than 30-per cent growth annually over the next eight years.
Renault said it would list Ampere on the Euronext Paris stock exchange in the latter half of 2023 and invite investment but will retain “a strong majority”.
Renault – in which the French state and carmaker Nissan each own 15 per cent – has still to outline the part that its Japanese partner will play in the new electric division.
For hybrid and internal-combustion vehicles, Renault plans to combine its technological, manufacturing and research and development activities with Chinese automaker Geely.
The 50-50 partnership with the Chinese group – owner of Volvo – will develop and produce engines, gear boxes and other components for hybrid and petrol and diesel vehicles.
It will employ 19,000 people across Europe, China and South America, and have 17 factories and five research and development centres.
“We are designing an agile and innovative organisation to manage the volatility and accelerated technological evolution of our time,” said Renault chief executive Luca de Meo.
Investors on Monday expressed their interest in Renault’s transformation, with the group’s shares climbing 3.77 percent on the Paris stock market.
The company suffered a historic loss in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its recovery was destabilised by its withdrawal from Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
In late July, Renault said that its decision to quit the Russian market had pushed it deep into the red in the first half of 2022.
