(AOF) – The Normandy Region voted on Friday aid of 2 million euros for the company Hopium, the leading French manufacturer of high-end hydrogen-powered vehicles. According to the CCI citing the region, this interest-free loan, repayable after 18 months, will allow Hopium to quickly make the many investments necessary for its development, without jeopardizing its financial health.
Hopium has the ambition to design and market a “fuel cell system” with unparalleled performance on the market in terms of power, density and compactness. It is in order to set up the prototype very quickly and maintain its technological advantage in a competitive global market that the company must make numerous investments, which weaken its cash flow.
The financial aid from the Region will enable the company to continue its R&D work and to assume the strategic reorientation of its commercial and economic model pending the validation of the concretization of its new partnership relations and the lifting of funds associated with its new needs. It will also enable the creation of 28 local jobs in a strategic sector of activity.
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A paradoxical performance
Data from EY highlights that the performance of the world’s top 16 manufacturers was particularly strong in 2021. While the average margin has fallen for three years in a row, from 6.3% in 2017 to just 3.5% in 2020 , this margin stood at 8.5% in 2021. This level is a record for ten years. However, the context was particularly hectic for manufacturers, faced with unprecedented shortages of components. Global sales fell 14% in 2020, the year of the health crisis, to rebound by only 5% in 2021. However, last year, players were able to reap the benefits of their efforts on their fixed cost structure. .