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RENAULT

Renault chief sees 2015 auto market slowdown

French carmaker Renault chairman, Carlos Ghosn, said Saturday that he expects slower growth in Europe's auto market next year as it continues to recover from the global economic crisis.

Renault chief sees 2015 auto market slowdown
Photo: AFP

Ghosn, who is also Renault's chief executive officer, said the European market was growing at six percent so far this year — the best since the 2007 crisis.

"I'm expecting in 2015 this recovery to continue," Ghosn told journalists on the sidelines of an industry forum in China's commercial hub Shanghai.

"I don't see another six percent increase. I think the increase will probably be more moderate than six percent… in line with GDP (gross domestic product) growth," he said, but gave no estimates for Renault alone.

Ghosn is also president and chief executive officer of Japan's Nissan Motor Co. through an alliance between the companies.

Many foreign carmakers turned to China, the world's largest auto market, in the wake of the global crisis as their home markets in the United States or Europe collapsed.

China's auto market is now slowing as well, as weaker domestic economic growth and a corruption crackdown take their toll.

But Ghosn said Renault and Nissan were committed to adding production in China.

In late 2013, Renault signed an agreement with Chinese company Dongfeng to set up a joint venture that will start production in 2016 with initial
capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year.
   Nissan has an existing partnership with state-backed Dongfeng, China's
second largest automaker. The two companies last month announced they plan to
produce Infiniti luxury cars along with their current offerings.
   "We're adding capacity (in China)," Ghosn told business executives after a
speech at the China Europe International Business School.
   "We don't believe the slowdown in China is going to be long-term because
the fundamentals are still pointing towards a very good development of the
industry," he said.
   China's auto sales rose just 2.5 percent year-on-year in September, the
slowest growth for any month this year, to 1.98 million vehicles.
   Last year, auto sales in China reached 21.98 million vehicles.

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RENAULT

France ready to cut Renault stake to shore up Nissan partnership: minister

France is ready to consider cutting its stake in Renault in the interests of consolidating the automaker's alliance with Nissan, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Saturday.

France ready to cut Renault stake to shore up Nissan partnership: minister
A Renault employee works at the automaker's factory in Maubeuge, northern France. File photo: Ludovic MARIN / AFP
He was speaking in Japan after Italian-US carmaker Fiat Chrysler pulled the plug on its proposed merger with Renault, saying negotiations had become “unreasonable” due to political resistance in Paris.
 
In an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers meeting in Japan, Le Maire said Paris might consider reducing the state's 15-percent stake in Renault if it led to a “more solid” alliance between the Japanese and French firms.
 
“We can reduce the state's stake in Renault's capital. This is not a problem as long as, at the end of the process, we have a more solid auto sector and a more solid alliance between the two great car manufacturers Nissan and Renault,” he told AFP.
 
Last week, FCA stunned the auto world with a proposed “merger of equals” with Renault that would — together with Renault's Japanese partners Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors — create a car giant spanning the globe. The combined group would have been by far the world's biggest, with total sales of some 15 million vehicles, compared to both Volkswagen and Toyota, which sell around 10.6 million apiece.
 
But the deal collapsed suddenly on Thursday, with FCA laying the blame at the door of Paris. 
 
“It has become clear that the political conditions in France do not currently exist for such a combination to proceed successfully,” FCA said in a statement.
 
Le Maire said Renault should concentrate on forging closer ties with its Japanese partner Nissan before seeking other alliances.
 
Things need to be done “in the right order…. First the alliance (between Nissan and Renault) should be consolidated and then consolidation (more generally) and not one before the other.”
 
“Otherwise, everything risks collapsing like a house of cards,” he warned.
 
The minister said it would be up to the bosses of Renault and Nissan to decide how to push the alliance forward as ties between the two firms have been strained after the shock arrest of former boss Carlos Ghosn.
 
Renault is pushing for a full merger between the pair but there is deep scepticism of the plan at Nissan.
 
There were varied reactions from the French unions Saturday.
 
“The government is behaving like the agent of the big shareholders, favouring short-term profit to the detriment of the interests of the country,” said Fabien Gache, of the CGT union.
 
Cutting the state's share in Renault was abandoning its responsibility in the country's auto industry, he argued.
 
Franck Daout of the CFDT union said it backed a three-way alliance between Renault, Nissan and Japan's Mitsubishi — but not one between Nissan and Renault until the alliance had reached a “safe and sustainable maturity”.
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