While the United States is protected by the “shield” of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Chinese brands are chained to Europe.

Geely, BYD and even Xpeng see the Old Continent as the new goose that lays golden eggs. But European manufacturers do not intend to allow this.

All interested sectors?

And this call for “rebellion” comes from Luca De Meo, CEO of Renault and President of ACEA (Association of European Automobile Manufacturers), which invites European industry to form a kind of united front against China. Luca De Meo reminds us that the sector is currently facing the biggest change in its history: the end of heat engines in 2035 and stricter safety standards make cars heavier and more expensive. So, combined with an uncertain economic context and interest rates that continue to rise, sales are falling, not to mention the end of subsidies in some countries, including Germany.
In addition, there is the entire electrification framework with uncertainty about battery chemistry and their future, which could make investments in certain gigafactories obsolete, not to mention the volatility of commodity market prices.

Alliance for economical electric cars?

And how to cope? Luca De Meo gives his vision of things. It needs to be installed “Clear principles and goals“. According to the manager, it should be “Central contact point for mobility and automobile regulations”. We could summarize it as a European alliance like the Airbus joint venture, an aircraft manufacturer created by a French, German, Spanish and English consortium. The affected sectors will be much wider than the manufacturers themselves, as the mining, chemical, energy and manufacturing industries will be affected.
“We force the interested parties to coordinate. I think that will be enough to start the process and get us to the level we deserve. We all face these challenges: politicians, manufacturers, stakeholders and customers.”, says the general director. And everything begins to move forward. This is reported by the American news agency Bloomberg. Renault plans to join forces with Stellantis and Volkswagen to create affordable electric cars.

The first discussions with Volkswagen have already begun regarding the shared use of the platform on which the electric Renault Twingo will be built.

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