The French president announces a major recovery plan for the sector consisting of measures to support demand, investment and relocation to France. Electric and self-driving cars the strategic objectives
(EPA)
The French president announces a major recovery plan for the sector consisting of measures to support demand, investment and relocation to France. Electric and self-driving cars the strategic objectives
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An eight billion plan. To make the country the first European manufacturer of clean cars. He is a very French and a little European Emmanuel Macron – apart from a quick reference to the Recovery Fund proposed with Angela Merkel – who announced a “historical plan” to defend the country’s automotive industry and recover “industrial sovereignty” in the sector.
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The figures at stake are important: the French state, which therefore assumes a very active role in the recovery and development of the sector, makes available eight billion euros. A part will go to support the application. The government will approve a series of bonuses: up to 7 thousand euros for the purchase, from 3 to 5 thousand euros for the conversion to a new “clean” car. Within the next year – and no longer by 2022 – 100 thousand electricity charging stations will also be active in the country.
The government will also create a fund of 500 million (of which 100 to be borne by manufacturers) to modernize the supply chain and consolidate supplier networks and support research and innovation. Above all, it will make a great pact between companies, workers and the government to relocate all high-value-added production in France.
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Renault, which is public, will participate in the European battery development consortium, a step which constitutes one of the conditions for obtaining the state guarantee on the five billion loan granted by the banks, together with the commitment to quadruple the production of electric vehicles within 2024 and to enter into an agreement with the trade unions to encourage relocation. Psa, for its part, will produce at least 450 thousand cars in France.
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Macron’s goal is to develop above all the most technologically advanced production: that relating to the electric car, for which there is a European development plan aimed at reducing dependence on China, and that relating to assisted-driving cars, which therefore it is interested in the artificial intelligence sector, very strong – like the auto industry – in the Ile de France region. Within five years, the country will have to become, in the president’s plans, the first manufacturer of clean cars in Europe, with one million cars a year.