Rumors return about an Airbus car that will defeat a Chinese electric car

I believe in public and private sector collaborations and alliances. At one time, with Airbus, Europe showed what it is capable of. By intensifying cooperation, our industry will embark on a path of renewal.

In March 2024, Luca de Meo, president of Renault, surprises by sending an open letter to Europeans. A few months before the elections to the European Parliament (June 2024), the head of the French company made public his wishes and proposals, which, in his opinion, were right for Europe in the coming years.

In his letter, he explained that cooperation between companies is necessary to ensure that our continent is not disadvantaged, since “the United States encourages China plans strategically, and in the meantime Europe regulates.” This was the main message the manager sent.

In less than 20 pages, de Meo repeated China’s name 26 times, highlighting its strength in bridging the gap in the electric vehicle market and the efforts Europe must make to mitigate that threat.

One that the Renault CEO believes is necessary to combat fundamentals such as reducing dependence on raw materials and semiconductors, promoting hydrogen (where Renault is developing new cars) or promoting cooperation between European companies to reduce costs.

Here we are talking about the “airbus car”.

Bilateral partnership

The call to create a large European automobile association as early as March did not seem accidental. A few days earlier, in February, a rumor had already appeared in the media about a possible association or cooperation agreement between Stellantis and Renault.

Then John Elkann, president of Stellantis, denied this information in such media as Automotive news. However, the original source of the rumors may be inside Emmanuel Macron’s office. In France the state has block of shares its large companies, therefore, according to the information that talked about cooperation, it would propose their merger in the face of a threat from Chinese manufacturers.

The French country was one of the states most involved in closing the doors to China. They have already decided to eliminate government aid for the purchase of electric vehicles produced there and have been among the most interested in increasing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

Over time, rumors of a merger between the two companies died down, but in June, voices talking about cooperation agreements between the two European giants began to gain momentum again. This time Renault was again in the spotlight, but with Volkswagen with whom she was involved.

Then the rumors that began to circulate at the end of 2023 were confirmed. Both companies tried to reach an agreement on the production of an electric car costing 20,000 euros, but negotiations failed. High production costs, both in raw materials and in labor investments, prevented the two giants from reaching an agreement.

But despite everything, Renault continues to generate headlines related to an alliance of major manufacturers is possible. Now it’s an Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore This ensures that a meeting will be scheduled on October 15 between Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, Oliver Zipse, CEO of BMW, and Luca de Meo, CEO of Renault, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Paris Motor Show.

BMW’s entry, the Italian newspaper notes, makes sense as the company may be looking for alternatives to reduce costs in the production of small electric vehicles. Your electric Mini Cooper will be subject to tariffs imposed by Great Wall Motors, whose plant produces the car in China.

But, in addition, you need to take into account that Renault has been talking about relying on hydrogen for a long time. In fact, he presented a prototype, which we’ll learn more about at the French show, with a hydrogen plug-in hybrid concept where a large electric battery is combined with a fuel cell.

At the same time, BMW is one of the strongest advocates of hydrogen as the energy source of the future in Europe and, in fact, recently reached an agreement with Toyota to continue research in this regard.

What we know for now is that Carlos Tavares has once again dismissed information indicating a possible collaboration between the two French manufacturers, calling them “pure speculation”. Information on which Luca de Meo has not taken any position, limiting himself to “say hello as always” in response to what he will do when he meets Tavares at the French event, reports Reuters.

Of course, we must remember that the presentation of Airbus as a successful example of European cooperation has been criticized by some experts. Oliver Taslik received recognition in Five days that the company is experiencing one of the best moments of its development, but at the same time he recalled that the current form of the company (where the States have minority stakes) is barely ten years old and that although it was created in 1970, it has not reached operational arrived until the 90s.

Photo | Renault

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