The Chief Executive Officer of the French legacy automaker Renault Luca de Meo is calling for the European government to initiate greater cooperation to intensify the push against Chinese electric automakers’ dominance in the region.
Notably, CEO de Meo is also the president of the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA).
CEO de Meo’s open letter to Europe
According to Reuters, Renault CEO de Meo released a 19-page open letter to Europe’s policymakers on March 19 to urge a joint European approach to counter Chinese-made electric vehicles.
The open letter outlined an auto European plan to protect local automakers against the “onslaught of electric vehicles (EV)’ coming from China.”
The Renault boss asserted that the center of the global auto market has leaned toward Asia. He cited the battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles’ 14% share of the global car sales, which Asian automakers dominated.
“China is making rapid inroads into the all-electric vehicle segment. Buoyed by its huge domestic market (8.5 million electric vehicles sold in 2023, according to the Chinese Passenger Car Association, or 60% of the global total), it already had [a] market share of close to 4% in Europe in 2022. In 2023, around 35% of electric vehicles exported worldwide were Chinese.
As a logical consequence of this trend, European imports from China have increased fivefold since 2017… The brands with the highest exports in the first half of 2023 were MG and BYD. They were followed by Tesla, which ships the Model Y from its Shanghai plant to Europe.”
Renault CEO Luca de Meo wrote in an open letter
Signs of Chinese automakers’ growing dominance
Considering the growing dominance of China in the global electric vehicle industry, even non-Asian companies have decided to solidify their partnerships with Chinese automakers to stay competitive.
For instance, German legacy automaker Volkswagen changed its Board of Management to reassign Mr. Thomas Ullrich as its Chief Technology Officer in China in January. Volkswagen tasked him to form connections and develop innovative technologies in the country.
Multinational automaker Stellantis also bolstered its ties with China, investing a whopping €1.5 billion in Leapmotor in October 2023 to boost global electric vehicle sales. Last November, it also inked a lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery cell supply deal with Chinese battery giant CATL.
Moreover, America’s electric vehicle giant Tesla continuously expands its ties to the Chinese auto industry through the Giga Shanghai. The Chinese facility has advanced as the Musk-led automaker’s primary export hub for the Tesla Model 3 and Y.
Renault recommends “Marshall Plan”
Europe needs to intensify its efforts to protect the local automotive industry against foreign threats. As de Meo noted, China is not the only competitor Europe must prepare for. He noted that the US is also accelerating its expansion push in the global EV market through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Thus, Renault CEO de Meo calls for the European government to adopt a “Marshall Plan” to boost electric vehicle uptake and cut carbon emissions.
For context, the post-WWII US program helped revitalize Western European economies then. Now, CEO de Meo calls for a similar strategy in a series of proposals to stimulate a policy debate before the looming European parliamentary elections in June.
“A European Marshall Plan could be put in place to accelerate parc renewal and thus drastically reduce CO2 emissions.”
Renault CEO Luca de Meo wrote in an open letter
CEO de Meo analogized the proposal to the European Union’s post-COVID-19 recovery plan, contending that a special fund could support incentives for purchasing new or used EVs. Such an initiative is crucial for Europe’s target to permanently ban the sale of traditional ICE-powered vehicles by 2035 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
You can read Renault CEO Luca de Meo’s open letter below:
