Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Automotive News
  • Automobilwoche
  • Automotive News Canada
  • Automotive News China
Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
  • Login
  • HOME
    • Latest news
    • Automakers
    • Suppliers
    • New Product
    • Environment/Emissions
    • Sales By Market
    • On The Move
    • Auto Shows
    • Munich Auto Show
    • Geneva Auto Show
    • Paris Auto Show
    • Beijing Auto Show
    • Shanghai Auto Show
  • Features
    • Long Read
    • Interview of the Month
    • Focus on Electrification
    • Focus on Technology
    • Segment Analysis
    • Cars & Concepts
    • Supplier Spotlight
    • Europe By The Numbers
  • Opinion
    • Blogs
    • Commentary
    • Guest columnists
  • Photos
    • Photo Galleries
    • Geneva Photo Gallery
    • Beijing Photo Gallery
    • Frankfurt Photo Gallery
    • Paris Photo Gallery
    • Shanghai Photo Gallery
  • Podcasts
  • Car Cutaways
  • EVENTS
    • ANE Congress
    • ANE Rising Stars
    • ANE Eurostars
  • More
    • Publishing Partners
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
    • Media Kit
    • About Us
    • Capgemini: Invent Head on automotive takeaways from CES 2023
    • Capgemini: Securing the industry's future through a radical rethink
    • Capgemini: Succeeding with the automated driving journey through AI
    • Capgemini: The circular economy is spurring new thinking on EV batteries
    • Capgemini: Toyota and Capgemini leaders on how OEMs can handle industry changes and succeed
    • HEXAGON: Plugging into data is the only way to make winning EVs
    • TUV Rheinland: Ideas, services and certifications for smart mobility
    • TUV Rheinland: Testing of automated and autonomous vehicles on test tracks
    • Toyota Europe
    • UFI Filters
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Automakers
December 02, 2022 06:41 AM

Renault CEO gets union support at home as Nissan talks continue

Luca de Meo is getting French union support for his plans to reform the company.

Bloomberg
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    Renault Nissan

    Some French labor unions see Renault CEO Luca de Meo’s plan to split its business and attract investment in its electric-vehicle unit as a positive step to keep up in the industry’s transformation.

    Renault is seeking to convince Japanese partner Nissan to agree to its plan to separate its EV and combustion-engine units.

    The automaker wants to pursuade Nissan to invest in the Ampere EV division before a Paris stock-market listing sometime late next year, market conditions allowing. Negotiations also are ongoing over their lopsided cross-shareholding.

    “Renault wants to attract 10 billion euros in investments in Ampere and this is a good thing,” Jean-Francois Nanda, a representative at CFTD, Renault’s second-biggest union, said in a phone interview.

    “Attracting such investments will not be easy but it’s all in line with de Meo’s efforts to make us operate more like a startup, like a Tesla.”

    Renault is in the middle of a sweeping overhaul to allow the automaker to raise funds for EV development and narrow the gap with bigger companies such as Stellantis.

    As part of the plan, de Meo is bringing in China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group as a partner for Renault’s legacy combustion-engine business, which added to job worries.

    Consultations with labor union representatives are required under French law for Renault to proceed with the split, a spokesman said Thursday.

    Other consultations will follow in coming days, both in France and abroad, another media representative said. Renault has pledged to retain all jobs in France, according to Nanda.

    Ampere will be based in France and employ about 10,000 people. The combustion engine entity with Geely, known as Horse, is to be based outside of France and have a staff of about 19,000 employees across three continents.

    Other unions are less supportive, with the smaller CGT critical of an Ampere carveout that responds to a “financial logic.”

    Meanwhile, the CFE-CGC union at Renault’s Guyancourt site is pressing for more details on job implications.

    When asked about possible workforce reduction last month, de Meo said the overhaul was “not a restructuring exercise.”

    “This is a development exercise,” de Meo said last month. “We are not here to propose a plan to cut jobs. On the contrary, I think there will be potentially opportunity to create jobs, high value-added jobs.”

    Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard held a Q&A session to reassure employees in Romania while on a two-day trip there in mid-October.

    Other executives, such as engineering chief Gilles Le Borgne, have been touring plants in Spain, Brazil and Romania since mid-November to give workers more details.

    The show of support from some union representatives is a welcome respite for Senard and de Meo, who have spent months trying to get Nissan to invest in a stake in Ampere.

    That agreement hinges on a wider deal that would see Renault lower its own 43 percent holding in Nissan to about 15 percent over time, helping eliminate a power imbalance that has been a source of friction between the companies for years, Bloomberg News has reported.

    Nissan is in talks with Renault “every day” to find ways to “become stronger together,” Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida said in an interview with Bloomberg Television Thursday.

    He declined to comment on the timing of a possible announcement or whether Nissan will invest in Ampere.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Ford's axing of Fiesta, Focus cars epitomizes industry disruption
    Recommended for You
    Ford Focus production Saarlouis
    Ford's axing of Fiesta, Focus cars epitomizes industry disruption
    Ford reduces top execs' bonuses after 'frustrating' earnings
    Ford reduces top execs' bonuses after 'frustrating' earnings
    BMW San Luis Potosi Mexico 2023
    BMW to invest $866 million in Mexico in EV push
    Capgemini Invent Head on automotive takeaways from CES 2023
    Sponsored Content: Capgemini Invent Head on automotive takeaways from CES 2023
    Sign up for free newsletters
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get Free Newsletters

    Sign up and get the best of Automotive News Europe delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    SUBSCRIBE TODAY

    Get 24/7 access to in-depth, authoritative coverage of the auto industry from a global team of reporters and editors covering the news that’s vital to your business.

    SUBSCRIBE NOW
    Connect with Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Instagram

    Founded in 1996, Automotive News Europe is the preferred information source for decision-makers and opinion leaders operating in Europe.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI  48207-2997
    Tel: +1 877-812-1584

    Email Us

    ISSN 2643-6590 (print)
    ISSN 2643-6604 (online)

     

    Resources
    • About us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Awards
    • Rising Stars
    • Eurostars
    • Leading Women
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Automotive News Europe
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • HOME
      • Latest news
      • Automakers
      • Suppliers
      • New Product
      • Environment/Emissions
      • Sales By Market
      • On The Move
      • Auto Shows
        • Munich Auto Show
        • Geneva Auto Show
        • Paris Auto Show
        • Beijing Auto Show
        • Shanghai Auto Show
    • Features
      • Long Read
      • Interview of the Month
      • Focus on Electrification
      • Focus on Technology
      • Segment Analysis
      • Cars & Concepts
      • Supplier Spotlight
      • Europe By The Numbers
    • Opinion
      • Blogs
      • Commentary
      • Guest columnists
    • Photos
      • Photo Galleries
      • Geneva Photo Gallery
      • Beijing Photo Gallery
      • Frankfurt Photo Gallery
      • Paris Photo Gallery
      • Shanghai Photo Gallery
    • Podcasts
    • Car Cutaways
    • EVENTS
      • ANE Congress
      • ANE Rising Stars
      • ANE Eurostars
    • More
      • Publishing Partners
        • Capgemini: Invent Head on automotive takeaways from CES 2023
        • Capgemini: Securing the industry's future through a radical rethink
        • Capgemini: Succeeding with the automated driving journey through AI
        • Capgemini: The circular economy is spurring new thinking on EV batteries
        • Capgemini: Toyota and Capgemini leaders on how OEMs can handle industry changes and succeed
        • HEXAGON: Plugging into data is the only way to make winning EVs
        • TUV Rheinland: Ideas, services and certifications for smart mobility
        • TUV Rheinland: Testing of automated and autonomous vehicles on test tracks
        • Toyota Europe
        • UFI Filters
      • Social Media
        • Facebook
        • Instagram
        • LinkedIn
        • Twitter
      • Contact Us
      • Media Kit
      • About Us