On the evening of April 24, the second round of voting in the French presidential election came to an end. Incumbent President Emmanuel Macron was re-elected with an advantage of 58% of the vote, becoming the first french president to be successfully re-elected in two decades.
In the face of an increasingly divided Europe, the new middle-class, promising young and ambitious president will undoubtedly have more and more difficult problems to deal with and deal with.
Especially for the French auto industry, which is in a critical stage of revival, the "balancing technique" that Macron will have to perform after re-election will be much more difficult than when he first took office 5 years ago.
Recently, it has been reported in the media that the French Renault Group is considering selling some of its shares in Nissan Automobile to raise funds for its own electrification development and ease long-term tensions between the two sides.
In fact, Ghosn, the former owner of Nissan, has pointed out that a large part of the deterioration of relations between Renault and Nissan was due to an unexpected move by French President Macron, who was then the economy minister - that is, the decision to increase Renault's voting power in the alliance.
Previously, DPCA's original "two-bedroom and one-hall" joint venture model in China has aroused strong concern in the industry. Renault is constantly seeking updated and solid partnerships in the Chinese market.
Therefore, after Macron is re-elected, instead of discussing how he leads the French auto industry to achieve a global renaissance, it is better to first glimpse its "survival desire" in this round of century-old automobile reform from a series of strategic adjustments of French cars in China.
While easing the "old alliance" relationship, while seeking a "new alliance"
When Macron announced his renewal, renault was exposed by the media to sell part of his stake in Nissan, which also attracted widespread attention.
According to foreign media reports, Renault is considering reducing its stake in Nissan from 43% at this stage to 15%, rebalancing the alliance relationship, and planning to smash the billions of euros raised by the sale of the stake into the electrification transition.
Nissan, which holds only 15% of Renault's shares, has been unhappy with the alliance's relationship. At the same time, the French government's 15% stake in Renault has always been a thorn in Nissan's heart.
In fact, during Macron's first term, the industry thought that the French government would be expected to exit the cross-shareholding structure between Renault and Nissan to further consolidate the Renault-Nissan alliance. But this "wish" eventually came to naught with Ghosn's arrest and the further deterioration of alliance relations.
Now at the critical juncture of Macron's successful re-election, Renault took the opportunity to revisit this matter, which does not seem to be a coincidence.
After a huge loss of 8.05 billion euros in 2020, Renault finally managed to turn around in 2021, earning a net profit of 890 million euros. However, in the face of the increasingly complex external situation in 2022, Renault, which is more determined to move towards electrification transformation, is still in the water.
On April 22, Renault released its 2022 Q1 financial report showing that due to chip shortages, geopolitics and other factors, Renault's global sales in the first quarter of this year were 550,000 vehicles, down 17.1% year-on-year, which is its lowest quarterly sales since the 2009 global financial crisis.
But it is worth mentioning that Renault's pure electric and hybrid vehicles increased by 13% in sales in the first quarter of this year, accounting for 36% of total sales. This undoubtedly strengthens Renault's determination to transform.
This, of course, is also very much in line with Macron's grasp of the future of the French auto industry. Previously, in order to promote the further development of vehicle electrification, Macron once proposed to strengthen France's control over the energy and automobile manufacturing industry at the national level.
This includes a renewed emphasis on the localization of semiconductor chips, as well as plans to establish its own battery supply chain within France.
Last June, Renault finalized a partnership with Vision with China and Verkor in France to produce electric vehicle batteries in northern France.
The move is strategic for both Renault and China's vision. Macron has pointed out that over the next decade, China's Vision Group will invest 2 billion euros in this battery production plant, and will add 2,500 jobs by 2028.
On the one hand, it is stepping up to join hands with Chinese partners in the local market, and on the other hand, Renault is also trying to work with Chinese partners to explore overseas markets.
For example, at the beginning of this year, Renault sought out Geely and planned to use its modular architecture (CMA) and advanced hybrid powertrain technology (Raytheon Hybrid) to enter the Korean new energy vehicle market.
At the same time, Kung Fu Motors also found that Renault, which announced its withdrawal from the passenger car and commercial vehicle market last year, also seems to have conspired to "return" in another way in the Chinese market recently.
Last year, Su Weiming, CEO of Trust Renault China, founded a brand new car brand, Penley Motors. According to tianyancha information, the company is currently held by Beijing Binli Information Technology Co., Ltd. and Beijing Great Wall Huaguan Automobile Research and Development Co., Ltd. in an 8:2 ratio.
In January 2022, Beijing Binli Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. added four new directors: Liao Xianzhi, You Zheng, Zhang Yi and Zheng Zibin. Among them, You Zheng is the deputy general manager of Dongfeng Motor Group, and Liao Xianzhi is the chairman of Wuhan Dongfeng Insurance Brokerage Company.
Subsequently, on February 14, Binli Automobile and Yangtze River Capital of Beijing, a state-owned capital in Hubei, jointly invested 10 billion yuan to form a new energy industry fund and lay out the new energy vehicle industry chain.
At the same time, Kung Fu Automobile also found that Teng Yuguo was the general manager of Wuhan Binli Information Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Beijing Binli Information Technology Co., Ltd. According to public information, Teng Yuguo was the deputy general manager of faw-Volkswagen sales company.
In fact, both Su Weiming and Teng Yuguo are "old acquaintances" and "old comrades-in-arms" of Zhu Yanfeng, the current number one of Dongfeng Group.
Behind this series of actions, we can already see That Renault and the East Wind getting closer and closer. After Dongfeng Renault announced the "disintegration", Bingli Automobile may be a new carrier for Renault to face China's new energy vehicle market.
In addition to Renault, PSA has also ushered in a turnaround in China
In the past one or two years, in addition to The loss of Renault to China and the industry's attention to French cars, the development of DPCA in China has also fallen into a trough.
However, since the second half of last year, the sales of DPCA cars have finally begun to improve. At one point this year, the sales volume of DPCA increased by 79% year-on-year. This undoubtedly gave the French side hope for revival.
In fact, the gradual recovery of Shenlong's sales in recent times is largely due to the efforts of China and France and the change in the perception of the Chinese market.
Therefore, in the long-term strategic development plan released by The Stellantis Group in March this year, a new model of "two rooms and one hall" was proposed for DPCA.
That is to say, under the condition that the share ratio remains unchanged, China and France will lead the two brands of Dongfeng Citroen and Dongfeng Peugeot respectively, of which the Chinese side dominates the Citroën brand and the French side dominates the Peugeot brand; and the two sides will share the existing commodity planning, technology, quality, industrial production and other public areas.
At present, it will take time to observe whether this new joint venture model can truly save Shenlong, but it is certain that China and France have at least found a method that is most suitable for current development and can improve the utilization of resources.
In the view of Kung Fu Automobile, although the practice of China and France may produce "infighting" in the future, it will undoubtedly let them see what kind of model can be adopted to make the legal system more suitable for survival and development in the Chinese market.
From this perspective, whether it is Renault or the way adopted by DPCA, it is a "new type of experiment" that French cars try to change in China.
However, their ultimate goal is obviously the same, that is, to promote the electrification of enterprises as soon as possible. Because the electrification of cars is particularly critical in macron's previous 30 billion euro "France 2030" plan.
Kung Fu shoots
Macron's re-election should be a shot in the arm for a number of French car companies.
Because especially under the comprehensive influence of the increasingly complex external situation and the intensification of industry competition and many other factors, what French cars need most at present is stable and lasting support and policies.
At present, French cars have lagged behind in this round of automotive technology revolution. Whether they can regroup in the Chinese market and meet the outbreak again will undoubtedly be a major key to their life and death in the next 5 years, and it is also a source of confidence.