The new Renault boss François Provost is demanding quick decisions on fundamental changes to the emissions rules for cars in the EU. In a conversation with the F.A.Z. and other international media, Provost warned of a decline in Europe’s auto industry. “On the one hand, I am pleased that there is a sense of urgency that something needs to be done, within the EU Commission and among most governments, with the awareness that without change we are causing the decline of Europe’s auto industry,” Provost said. “At the same time, I’m not satisfied that we’re not seeing anything concrete.” Provost said he supports the position of his German colleagues, the CEOs of German car companies, with calls for more flexibility for the rules for 2035, for technical neutrality and the inclusion of plug-in drives in future drive options. The Renault boss wants to stick to the plans for electrification and the further development of electric cars. At the same time, Provost said: “100 percent electric by 2035 is not possible, the EU has to be flexible.” In addition, a solution must be found for the EU regulations, which require a drastic reduction in fleet emissions from 2030 onwards and in fact require a registration share of battery-electric cars of the order of 50 percent. Simply extending the deadlines to 2032 won’t change anything, said Provost. “Rapid electrification is unrealistic,” he says.Criticism due to the lack of charging stationsWhen looking at electric cars, it is initially painful for prospective buyers that battery-electric cars are generally more expensive than models with combustion engines. Customers continued to fear that they could be stuck with electric cars if they wanted to drive longer distances in Europe. Another sore point is that drivers often don’t know exactly how much they have to pay for charging. “The car manufacturers are not responsible for the charging infrastructure,” is the principle of the Renault boss. The EU Commission had promised a major development in the range of charging stations, but this has not yet happened. There are more and more charging stations on German motorways, and many drivers have understood that they can easily drive 100 percent electrically there. But for Provost, this is not yet the general European standard: “In eight or ten years, when there are enough charging stations everywhere, including in Croatia, for example, then we can switch to 100 percent electric drives.” Switch faster with smaller cars. For the near future, the new Renault boss recommends that, especially in Germany, more emphasis be placed on models with plug-in drives, which can be charged from a socket, can often drive more than 100 kilometers electrically, but at the same time Have a combustion engine on board. There are a lot of large cars in Germany, said Provost, “so it’s stupid to cover the daily commute with purely electric cars with 100 kilowatt batteries and weighing three tons.” A plug-in car that is charged electrically can be driven in everyday use with almost no emissions. “Plug-ins are a good way to lead customers step by step towards electric drives.” Europe can switch to electric cars more quickly for smaller cars, said Provost, so it would be good if an extra category was created for this, up to a length of 4.2 meters, as intended by the EU Commission. In Renault’s opinion, this could alleviate the problem that new cars are too expensive, many Europeans continue to drive old cars and pollute the air and climate with the average age of the fleet of 13 years. Currently, the profit margins for electric cars are even lower than those for the sale of cars with other drives, said Provost. Renault has set itself the goal of reducing costs by 40 percent for the electric drive and has already achieved half of it, as the comparison of the Scenic and R5 electric models shows. Renault will have to change the battery chemistry in the next twelve months so that the batteries become cheaper and the ranges longer. Renault’s stock market value is suffering. Provost wants to present a new strategic plan for Renault on March 10th. So far, the new Renault boss has not received much advance praise from the stock market. After the near-bankruptcy in the Corona pandemic and the expensive farewell to Renault’s previously second most important sales market, Russia, Provost’s predecessor Luca De Meo managed to drive the stock market value up to 15.6 billion euros. It is currently a meager 9.4 billion euros again. Many observers remain skeptical about whether Renault lacks size and financial strength given the historic upheavals in the car market. Read moreProvost rejects such objections. In the current market situation, he said, he is “not sure that size is the best competitive advantage.” He pointed out the big differences in regulation and customer requirements. What is right for the USA does not apply to Europe and China. Instead of classic scaling, agility is required, says Provost, similar to his predecessor. He had already forged new, loose partnerships, especially with the Chinese car manufacturer Geely in the area of hybrid and combustion engines. “In terms of size, we are well positioned.” From Provost’s perspective, there are the first results of such partnerships: thanks to the help of the Chinese, the new electric small car Twingo was developed in less than two years. After successful cooperation on the South Korean market, Renault announced in November that it would also work with the Chinese in Brazil. Geely became a shareholder in the French subsidiary’s Brazilian subsidiary and gained access to the Curitiba plant and the regional sales network. Renault, in turn, can increase the capacity utilization of the plant there and also gains access to the Geely platform. Around two thirds of Renault’s sales currently come from Europe. The company does not sell cars in either China or the USA, which makes growth markets such as South America all the more important. Provost also highlighted the importance of India. However, there are no plans to expand to Southeast Asia, for example, because a lot would have to be invested there. Provost’s message: Choose your markets specifically and, thanks to cooperation, be anything but small; Nissan and Mitsubishi are long-standing partners of the French, and they recently joined forces with Ford to develop two small electric models. “In terms of size, we are well positioned and have good assets where we want to grow,” the Renault boss continued. He called the sales figures for 2025 “good”. However, he doesn’t want to do everything like his predecessor. A few days ago it became known that Renault wanted to dissolve the electric subsidiary Ampere and restructure its activities. This is intended to simplify processes. Ampere had been created with great fanfare by De Meo as part of his ambitious electric course, intended to be floated independently and attract fresh capital. But investors were unconvinced by the project.
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