Ten years ago, Renault was a pioneer in the electric market. Today, the group seems to lag behind some of its competitors. How do you explain it?
When I arrived, I discovered a group with a lot of potential, skills, and above all experience. Renault has actually entered this market almost at the same time than Tesla. Many projects were ahead of their time. And then there were hesitations, faced with the mass of investments to be made, with the absence of immediate demand… This created a small air hole, and ended up generating a form of complex on the ability to perform in the electric. During these 10 years, we have understood a lot of things, even in our mistakes. We have just passed the 10 billion kilometer mark crossed by Renault electric vehicles. We are connected to 300,000 of these vehicles. During the past 12 months, we have collected 300 terabytes of battery data. All of this has value. In addition, certain technological choices were first seen as eccentric, such as having motors without magnets, and today premium German manufacturers claim it as an innovation! On the electric, we have a very logical project, where the base is good, with very few holes in the racket, and where we really enter into control of the value chain.
Isn’t it too late?
No, because a lot of these investments are behind us. We’re not making big-bang billion dollar announcements, and we don’t want to play volume, that’s clear. We have chosen to be smart, and we have all the elements to become a leader in the energy transition. We are in the process of developing the small electric platform, but the main one was made with the Alliance, and it’s a hell of a product, which is at least on par with the best in the market. And on hybrid technology, I discovered when I arrived a brilliant product, very flexible, and that we can quickly bring in terms of cost to the level of the benchmark in the sector. Again, there was reluctance to highlight this success. Without being arrogant, you have to know how to highlight your strengths.
Discussions for Renault’s entry into ACC, the joint venture formed by Stellantis and Total to manufacture batteries, are dragging on. Do they have a chance to succeed one day?
We have organized ourselves not to put all of our eggs in one basket. The agreements we just made with Envision and Verkor allow us to discuss calmly. We have always said the same thing: we are ready to take an equity stake, and to commit to buying battery volumes if the prices are competitive. We have forwarded a proposal, on terms that I consider to be entirely reasonable, to the shareholders of ACC. The ball is in their court. I would be very happy to be able to contribute to this project.
The Volkswagen brand will ban thermal engines no later than 2035. And you?
On the Renault brand, we could get there before this date, because we are aiming for a 90% mix of purely electric vehicles from 2030. By this date, Alpine will already be all electric, and Dacia… as electric as possible, because the brand must remain accessible in terms of price.
How are you going to ensure that the future electric Renault 5 is affordable?
You have to accept the fact that cars are going to cost more in the future. This is a consequence of the evolution of regulations, and of the content which is now requested by customers. In addition, electrical technology is going to be more expensive, at least initially. But compared to our competitors, we will have vehicles that will be very competitive. That’s all the bet we make with the Electricity project in the north. We fought a lot internally, with Jean-Dominique Sénard, to make it happen in France. To reduce costs, the easiest way would have been to do it outside the borders. But the symbolic value is very strong, as President Macron’s visit on Monday showed. The work produced so far has already reduced the competitiveness differential by two thirds. The agreement that was reached with the unions is a symbol, a model, which opens a whole new chapter. For our part, we take responsibility for training and retraining thousands of employees in new jobs.
Can you do the same with your subcontractors?
The situation of Renault’s industrial tool in the broad sense is the consequence of compromises and bad decisions taken several years ago. This is paid for by dozens of competitiveness points less. In the long run, it kills the business. By 2030, 25% of the traditional part of the value chain of the sector will disappear, which threatens 50,000 jobs. But 400,000 jobs could be created on the future value chain! This is what we have chosen to invest in, with the Software Republic, the circular economy … With Renaulution, we have a roadmap on which many stakeholders can support us, and take their responsibilities.
You took up your post just over a year ago. Where are you in your roadmap?
We still have a lot of work to do, but major changes have already been made . A new brand organization has been put in place, and we have also done a tremendous job on reducing costs. The objective of 2 billion savings should be reached by the end of 2021, one year in advance. We have also done a lot of work on reducing diversity in our series: Renaulution’s new model projects have an average development and launch ticket 40% lower than in the previous cycle. The industrial organization has been thoroughly reviewed. Allocation decisions in factories are made at the same time as the product plan, and that changes everything. This will bring us back fairly quickly to more than decent plant utilization rates. In France, we have found solutions for Flins, for Alpine in Dieppe … There are still things to do, in the commercial vehicle part for example, or in India and Korea, where profitability is fragile. But things are changing.
You’ve changed the group’s headquarters quite a bit …
I have brought in about twenty executives, and others will follow. This is normal in large companies. I see myself a little like a trainer , I need to mix talents, to put them in the best position.
When will Renault return to China?
It is a very important market. They are ahead of Europe in many areas, whether for electric cars, connectivity or autonomous driving. You have to be there to know what’s going on there. But going back there in the classic way would require a lot of investment, with the creation of a joint venture, the construction of a factory … This is one of the reasons why Renault has not been successful in China: we are arrived 25 years after the music, but with the same song. There, we must jump directly to 6 G. We have good ideas, we are exploring avenues, but nothing is decided.