Renault, all the Chinese affairs of the anti-Chinese De Meo
Luca de Meo, CEO of Renault, attacks the EU for electric cars and denounces the situation in China: the competition is crazy, "it's like playing 11 against 15". Yet the French house does not give up on business with the Chinese…
Competing with China on electric vehicles "is like playing eleven against fifteen": "sales prices [ ed ] are lower because coal is still used, there are no pollution limits and labor costs are lower ”. These are the words of Luca de Meo, CEO of the French car manufacturer Renault, spoken last Friday evening during an informal meeting with the press in Locorotondo, in Puglia.
THE ADVANTAGE OF CHINA ON THE ELECTRIC CAR CHAIN
Electric mobility is one of the cornerstones of the ecological transition undertaken by the European Union but it is also an industrial battleground with China, which is (clearly) the largest producer of electric vehicles and the batteries that power them, as well as having control of the raw and refined metals used in these devices. European and Western manufacturers therefore fear losing the challenge with Chinese brands such as BYD and Xpeng, which can leverage the supply chain advantage and low manufacturing costs to sell models with a competitive price: BYD's Seagull, an electric sedan, is on sale for example at just $11,000, compared to about $40,000 for the Tesla Model 3.
FEAR OF CHINA KEEPS THE RENAULT PRESIDENT WON'T SLEEP
Not only CEO De Meo, but also Renault chairman Jean-Dominique Senard recently said he was concerned about China's grip on the electric car supply chain: the thought that Beijing might ban supplies of critical minerals, such as lithium for batteries or rare earths for magnets, "wakes me up at night". “China”, he added, “is getting its hands on the mines and above all on the transformation of the metals used to build batteries. The war of the future will be a war of metals”.
– Read also: Critical minerals, all the EU's anti-Chinese plans
THE (RECENT) AGREEMENT BETWEEN RENAULT AND GEELY
Luca de Meo's statements are dated August 4th. Those of Jean-Dominique Senard of 8 July. Yet on July 11, Renault and Geely, a Chinese automaker, announced a 7 billion euro investment in the creation of an equal joint venture dedicated to the development of more efficient internal combustion engines and hybrid fuel systems.
Renault has specified that the joint venture – whose name is not yet known, and which seems to be launched in the second half of the year – will have 19,000 employees, divided between seventeen plants and five research and development centres. Estimated production is five million internal combustion, hybrid and plug-in hybrid engines annually.
– Read also: Electric cars, because there is a Volkswagen-Renault clash over tariffs on China
DE MEO CRITICISM ELECTRICS AND PRAISES E-FUELS: THIS IS WHY
Beyond the choice of a Chinese partner, given the fears of the management, it is curious that Renault has decided to invest in endothermic and hybrid technologies in a phase of general transition to electricity in the automotive industry.
Luca de Meo perhaps indirectly explained the reason to the Italian press, arguing that the European Commission has a partial vision on the future of mobility, which is not only electric but includes other low-carbon solutions such as the hybrid, in fact, and the e-fuel (synthetic fuels capable of circulating in traditional engines). In recent months, the Commission provided for an exemption for vehicles powered exclusively by e-fuel from the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035.
To date, the most advanced car manufacturers on e-fuels – of which, however, there is still no large-scale production – are Porsche and BMW: given the high price and use in luxury vehicles, e-fuels are been defined as fuels "for the rich".
Synthetic fuels are also favored by automotive component companies, which would be harmed by electric mobility because battery-powered vehicles contain far fewer parts than traditional ones. In addition to holding the position of managing director of Renault, Luca de Meo is also president of ACEA, the association of European car manufacturers which represents the interests of the Old Continent's supply chain.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/luca-de-meo-renault-cina/ on Mon, 07 Aug 2023 08:12:34 +0000.