(Updated with details, context)
PARIS, May 20 (Reuters) – The managing director of Renault
RENA.PA could return to Japan in June for the second month in a row, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, a sign of increased talks with Nissan 7201.T over the French automaker’s electric entity project .
Luca de Meo, who has already spent several days with his Japanese partners, could go to the archipelago again for the next AOB (Alliance Operating Board) of the alliance between Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, added the source.
The alliance’s operational committee meets alternately between France and Japan, but this time will exceptionally be held twice in a row on Japanese soil to coincide with Nissan’s general meeting and thus optimize travel, said this source.
Renault is counting on the creation within it of two autonomous entities, one dedicated to electric vehicles and software, and another devoted to thermal engines, to gain visibility with investors and recover a stock market price at half mast.
He left the door open for Nissan to join this project, which also raises questions about the alliance’s shareholder structure, and discussions will continue until Renault’s “capital market day” scheduled for the fall.
Precursor of the electric with its Japanese partners at the beginning of the previous decade, the diamond group is eclipsed today by “pure players” like Tesla TSLA.O or by the ambitions of giants like Volkswagen VOWG_p.DE.
(Gilles Guillaume report, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot and Sophie Louet)