It is the big day for Ampere, the new subsidiary of the Renault group. A “Capital Market Day” to present to investors the strengths of this entity that will be in charge of supervising the design, production and sale of the group’s electric cars, but also of staying at the forefront of new technologies and vehicle software. . With the aim of listing Ampere on the stock market in the first half of 2024, if market conditions are met.
An affordable car to complete the range.
To attract these investors, Renault announced a new model that was not yet included in its product plan: a small and affordable vehicle, less than 20,000 euros and of 100 euros per month, made in Europe. Model code name: Legend. An urban car, with very limited electrical consumption, which will succeed the current Twingo, whose production will end in the coming months:
“It’s the new Twingo, we are reinventing a new icon of the brand, we did that with the 5, the 4, now we are remaking the Twingo because the electric and all the connectivity technology gives us the possibility of making the perfect one. urban vehicle,” stressed Luca de Meo, in an interview with BFM Business.
A surprise announcement that reinforces the potential interest in Ampere, itself launched in the race for electric cars under 20,000 euros. A question of survival, after Citroën’s recent announcement with its new C3 launched at the beginning of 2024 and other models planned by the competition in the short or medium term.
In Renault’s current range, if we exclude the Zoé and Twingo, which will soon be discontinued, we only find for now the utility vehicles Kangoos and Mégane E-Tech, Méganes that are not a great commercial success at the moment. We will have to wait until early 2024 for the commercialization of the new scenicsummer 2024 even for the renault 5 highly anticipated, which will sell for around 25,000 euros, before the R4 planned for 2025.
Models in which Renault intends to reach significant volumes, driven by the growth of electric cars and by the commitment to these very popular names, especially in France.
“Ampere is designed to democratize electricity in Europe. We are already falling down the segment, we are going to work to reduce costs quite significantly by 2027/28, and then we will lower prices. Ampere should allow us to achieve parity in list prices “between thermal and electric cars before our competitors,” explained Luca de Meo.
New design and production (at least) in Europe.
Another peculiarity: production in France. This is already the case of the Mégane and the next Scénic, R5 and R4. On the other hand, the Twingo will probably be produced in Slovenia, where the current city car is manufactured. An Ampere industrial footprint that is still very French, Luca de Meo assured us:
“We did our homework on that front. Six or seven sites didn’t have a guaranteed future, now they do, including Dieppe for Alpine. So we did a lot of work in France. I’m also responsible for a few tens of thousands. “There are people who I must guarantee a future and the car (the future Twingo) must be very competitive.
In fact, the idea is still to produce at an affordable cost, but in Europe. Necessary condition to qualify for the future ecological bonus, the details of which will be known on December 15.
Ampere, Renault’s Tesla?
Will this new range convince investors? This is the objective of this day dedicated to investors. Ampere’s objectives are very ambitious: Renault aims for 10 billion euros in turnover for its subsidiary in 2025, 25 billion euros in 2031. All of this being in balance from 2025.
Renault has not announced new investors and, in any case, will consolidate itself as the majority shareholder of Ampere. Nissan and Mitsubishi already have a joint investment of 800 million euros planned, Qualcomm also plans to be part of the partners. For this reason, the group led by Luca de Meo always looks for other investors, rather outside the automotive world. But what will be its place in the capital balance of society?
A crucial issue, as Ampere aims for an IPO in the first half of 2024, subject to favorable market conditions, Renault insisted this morning. The manufacturer also talks about a “potential” IPO, a conditional approach because the market environment is not very good and demand for electricity is starting to lose strength. The first discounts appear today in dealerships to support sales.
The idea is still to reproduce the Tesla phenomenon on the stock market: although the American manufacturer’s volumes have progressed well in recent years, its sales are still far from world leaders such as Toyota and Volkswagen, but it remains, by far, the highest valuation in the market. sector.
By making Ampere its electrical and technological entity, Renault appears to be taking this path. A similarity that extends to the choice of the name of this entity. A reference to a scientist, also French, André-Marie Ampère (1775-1836), who gave his name to a unit of measurement, that of the intensity of the electric current, just as a certain Nikola Tesla did for the fields. magnetic.
Source: BFM TV
