PARIS (Reuters) – Carlos Tavares and Luca de Meo dispelled rumors of a merger between Stellantis and Renault on Wednesday and Thursday on the sidelines of the publication of 2023 results praised on the stock market for the two automobile groups.
The Italian press reported at the beginning of the month that the French state, Renault’s largest shareholder and holder of a stake in Stellantis, was studying a proposed merger between the two manufacturers.
“We don’t have any projects in progress, we don’t have any discussions in progress,” Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, said during a press conference call. “We don’t have anything on fire, because otherwise the forest will burn down.”
“We have no ongoing negotiations on what could be a major merger, and certainly not with Renault,” he added during another press conference call.
Asked Wednesday on the same subject by Le Figaro, his counterpart at Renault, Luca de Meo, replied that large-scale consolidation was complicated, particularly in this period of transformation of the automobile.
“On paper, Tesla could buy Volkswagen or Stellantis: he has the means. Why doesn’t he do it? Probably because it’s not that simple or perhaps that interesting. A merger only succeeds if it there is a will on both sides,” he said.
“When demand is stable or growing slowly and when technologies are mature (…), merging and banking on common platforms to achieve economies of scale is then relevant. But when demand and the market are very volatile , that technologies are evolving, it is better to be very agile,” he added, in response to those who judge Renault too small to stay in the race.
Luca de Meo added, however, that there could be “mergers with certain pieces of activities”, referring to the creation of the joint venture between the thermal and hybrid engine activities of Renault and Geely.
He also recommended that Europe not follow in the footsteps of the United States and close the door to Chinese manufacturers. “I think that we will not be able to give up a form of collaboration with this ecosystem,” he continued.
Asked for his part about his succession at the head of Stellantis, which some French media have linked to rumors of consolidation, Carlos Tavares replied that his mandate ran until 2026 and that the question would not arise before mid-2025.
“The question of what comes next does not arise (…), until then we are focused on the execution of our plan, we have enough subjects to deal with and we do not know today what the conclusion will be of this: do I take another mandate or do I not take one, will we decide something else, the board of directors will be sovereign and I am one of the members of the board of directors”, he said.
(Report by Gilles Guillaume, with Camille Raynaud)
Copyright © 2024 Thomson Reuters
Are you following this action?
Receive all the information on RENAULT in real time: