The upgrade of the factory in Rennes, France, includes a battery assembly area to supply packs to the C5 Aircross compact SUV's successor, which will debut in 2025.

Over the past two years, the total number of passenger vehicle exports from China to the global market has increased by 211 percent.

Renault and Stellantis have a combined production capacity of 700,000 vehicles in the country.

VDL Nedcar, which builds the X1 and cars for Mini, will scale back to one shift from two in November.