(AOF) – Electric announcements are being prepared on the Alliance side. Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi are expected to unveil their major “Alliance to 2030” plan on Thursday, providing for a tripling of their investments to jointly develop electric vehicles. This was reported by Reuters on Sunday, based on two people familiar with the project. The three manufacturers are expected to announce an investment plan of more than 20 billion euros in the development of electric vehicles over the next 5 years, according to the media.
By 2030, the Alliance is expected to offer more than 30 new battery-electric vehicles based on five common platforms, Reuters added.
The alliance plans to jointly invest to produce in France, Britain, China and Japan a total of 220 gigawatt hours of battery capacity by 2030 under the plan, the outlet concluded.
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Automotive – Manufacturers: A recovering sector
The French car market has not yet recovered from the Covid. Only 141,041 passenger vehicle registrations were recorded in May, according to the Committee of French Automobile Manufacturers (CCFA). This is 27.3% below the May 2019 level.
Born in January from the merger between PSA and Fiat Chrysler, Stellantis became the leading car manufacturer in Europe in the first quarter, thus overtaking the Volkswagen group (Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Porsche, Lamborghini, etc.).
A long-awaited recovery
Over the first five months of the year, cumulative registrations amounted to 723,258 for passenger cars, i.e. 22.7% less than their 2019 level, before the health crisis.
Stellantis marketed around 44,000 new vehicles in May 2021, i.e. nearly 40% less compared to May 2019. The group suffered from a lack of components, which penalizes all manufacturers in the world. Stellantis was thus unable to produce 190,000 vehicles in the first quarter and in mid-March the Volkswagen group estimated that 100,000 vehicles could not be produced.
At 36,000 units, Renault group sales in May 2021 fell 27.8% from their pre-pandemic level.
Electric cars continue to develop in France and maintain their market share at 8% in May, with 11,562 registrations.
A sector penalized by the shortage of semiconductors
This shortage is mainly linked to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. The German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon estimates that around 2.5 million cars will not be able to be produced in the first half of 2021 worldwide. It predicts that the imbalance between supply and demand will persist and could last until 2022.
However, automotive manufacturers are not affected in the same way by this shortage of electronic components. Those who have developed close relationships with their suppliers are less affected. This is the case with Toyota. On the other hand Ford announced that its production would be reduced by 50% in the second quarter and by 1.1 million vehicles over the whole of the year.