Posted Oct 10, 2019 at 19:24
What is happening at Renault?
The brutality and the totally unexpected nature of what is happening are staggering . I boarded a plane in Tokyo on Tuesday night and landing at 4 am in Paris on Wednesday, I learned through the press that President Jean-Dominique Senard, who until then had been saying There was not a sheet of cigarette paper between us, wanted me to leave. I have always been loyal to him. The only thing that may be reproached to me is to have been appointed deputy director-general at the beginning of 2018, at the suggestion of Carlos Ghosn, unanimously of the council.
You are criticized for the poor performance of Renault …
This is all the more inexplicable because Renault is one of the very few car manufacturers that has not made a profit warning despite the sectoral crisis we are facing. We have anticipated on the electric vehicle and will not pay penalties related to the new standards. Despite the shocks that have weakened our alliance with Nissan since last November, we have entered into strategic partnerships with Google and Waymo. And on the industrial front, Daimler-Mercedes also continues to trust us. Our cash consumption is certainly important in the first half, but we are preparing for the future and the current cash flow is in line with previous years. Renault’s management has proven that it knows how to navigate to allow the company to go through a violent storm. Operationally, I do not see where the fault is.
Is your spell sealed?
As long as Renault’s board of directors did not decide, by definition nothing could be decided. I appeal to the highest level of the State shareholder, guarantor of the rules of good governance, not to destabilize Renault, flagship of our French industry. This coup is very disturbing, it is very important to understand the ins and outs of what is happening in Japan. On this issue, I told the employees that I reserve the premiere of our analysis to the Renault Board of Directors, so in the first place to the State.
What is at stake is not my person but the future of Renault and its 186,000 employees. I have met three times over the past few months the first 200 managers of the group and each time the direction I give to Renault has received the support of 99% of these managers. My entire career demonstrates my passionate attachment to French industrial interests, Renault and the Alliance.