AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/18 Report--

Due to the influence of the global car market, French car giant Renault reported its first loss in a decade of operation in 2019. In order to respond in time, Renault decided to close factories and lay off staff on a large scale in 2020 in order to reduce costs. Among them, the factory in China is also rumored to be listed as one of the regions, but a Renault spokesman said a few days ago that it would not give up the world's largest car market anyway.

Obviously, the Renault spokesman refers to China as the world's largest car market.

Earlier media reported that the main reason for Renault's losses in 2019 included the decline in the Chinese market, in order to cope with the decline in performance and sales in time. Renault held a special meeting of its board of directors on January 28 and mentioned that Renault would evaluate the assets of its joint venture in China and explore plant closures to control costs.

To this end, a spokesman for the Renault Group said a few days ago, "this is wrong and misleading report." Renault Group has a long-term development goal in China, and we attach great importance to the relationship with Chinese partners and the strategic market of China.

Although Dongfeng Renault has indeed experienced a big decline in the Chinese market, according to sales data, Dongfeng Renault's cumulative sales for the whole of last year were only 179571 vehicles, down 17.2% from the same period last year. China's market has become the weakness of Renault's global layout. But it accounts for less than 5% of Renault's cumulative global sales of 3.754 million vehicles in 2019, which has little impact on Renault's sales.

Renault achieved 23.5% year-on-year growth in the global electric car market in 2019, with sales of 62000 vehicles. Among them, Renault Group launched the first electric car Renault in China, soon after the launch of 3041 sales, that is to say, the current sales of Renault fuel models in China is not large, but Renault's exploration in the field of new energy and new retail has quite important demonstration significance. Renault started the exploration of Dongfeng Renault in the new retail field. And China, as the world's largest auto market, is more receptive to new energy vehicles than most countries.

The decline in sales is indeed the main reason for Renault's performance losses. According to the group's financial report, the group's operating income in 2019 was 55.54 billion euros, down 3.3% from the same period last year. Net profit was 19 million euros, and net profit was 141 million euros ($153 million) from last year, the first annual loss in 10 years.

So interim CEO Clotilde Delbos (Clotilde Delbos) said at the special meeting that Renault would press ahead with a plan to cut structural costs by at least 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) over three years, and the group would announce specific plans in May 2020.

Of course, the feud between Ghosn and Nissan continues to grow, which also has a big impact on Renault. As the largest shareholder, Renault owns 43% of Nissan, so it is at the center of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance storm. Ghosn once cast a cursed prophecy: "the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance has no future." As a result, the two companies will plan to integrate technology and factories to improve cooperation.

"No matter what measures Renault will take to revive its business performance in the future, at least from Renault China's statement, its factories in China are safe at this stage," said one industry analyst. "

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat