After long months of waiting, the town of Revin (Ardennes) can finally rejoice. After consultation with the State and local authorities, the company specializing in micromobility Cibox announced, Thursday, June 2, the creation of a factory on the Porcher industrial wasteland, to eventually manufacture 150,000 electric vehicles per year ( mostly bicycles). This facility should create 300 jobs over the next four to five years, including the first hundred after the first year of operation.
This 16,000 square meter site leaves a bad memory for the inhabitants of the region, as well as for the State: in the summer of 2021, the Ministry of the Economy and then the communities had withdrawn from a project of relocation of Cycles Mercier to this city with unemployment exceeding 20%, after announcing the creation of 270 jobs a few months earlier. The State was then justified by suspicions of financial embezzlement with regard to Jean-Marc Seghezzi, director of Cycles Mercier.
Not forgetting the Mercier fiasco, local elected officials show relief tinged with vigilance: “I am happy but I am cautious, like all the inhabitants. I will only be convinced of the effectiveness of things when the machines come to this wasteland to rehabilitate it, when the workers have their first pay, and when the bicycles come out.judge Pierre Cordier, deputy (LR) of the Ardennes. It revolted people here, I think it really shook the state. »
Many grants promised
Unlike Mercier, Cibox is a young company, created in 1995, and which has been betting for ten years on the successful market of electric scooters and bicycles. Until then, it had its products assembled in China, Romania and Portugal. “We are already designing and developing our products. From now on we will manufacture them in France to improve our competitivenessexplained in a press release Georges Lebre, its CEO. Using automated machinery, we will produce competitive mobility products from our factory and optimize our cash flow through shorter supply cycles. »
The company was undoubtedly convinced by the numerous subsidies promised to the buyer of the wasteland: the site, property of the community of municipalities, will be rehabilitated with the assistance of the State and the Grand-Est region for an estimated overall cost of 16 million euros, subsidized up to 50%. “All the aid can allow the cost price of the finished part to be more attractivespecifies Pierre Cordier. And customers may be more inclined to buy a product that supports a region in difficulty. » Cibox will also benefit from reductions in charges and exemption from corporation tax for five years, thanks to the “employment area to be revitalized” (BER) scheme.
The icing on the cake, the company will benefit from turnkey equipment put into service by Mercier, and which has therefore never been used. After rehabilitation work in a few months, the manufacturer will begin in early 2023 by installing an after-sales service workshop, before launching production in the first quarter of 2024. The MP warns: “The State is condemned to succeed in the territory of Revin, if it wants to regain credibility with the Ardennes. »