Economy

2023-06-20 09:24:22

Renault’s new entity dedicated to electric vehicles is beginning to take shape, with a view to an IPO by the end of the year.

The reorganization of the Renault group under the baton of Luca de Meo continues. Le Losange has just announced the creation of the management team of Ampere, the subsidiary that will bring together the manufacturer’s electrical and software activities. And it will be directed by… Luca de Meo. He will therefore combine with his position as general manager of the group.

A decision recorded by the board of directors of Renault. In a press release, the brand also announces that “two key executives of Renault Group, Josep Maria Recasens and Vincent Piquet, will respectively be appointed Chief Operating Officers and Chief Financial Officer of Ampere”. Renault’s goal is to take Ampere public by the end of this year.

With this project, the brand wants to separate its thermal and electric activities, and thus attract new investors who will help Renault finance its transition to electric. Diamond allies Nissan and Mitsubishi will take shares, as will chip giant Qualcomm. Renault will however keep the majority.

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The Diamond thinks that its subsidiary will quickly be in the green financially, because it is far from starting from scratch. 80% of investments have already been made, with in particular two platforms dedicated to electric vehicles, the CMF-BEV for urban models and the CMF-EV for large models. Ampere is targeting breakeven operating profit and free cash flow by 2025, and a double-digit margin by 2030.

Ampere will bring together 10,000 group employees, including a third of engineers and blue-collar workers from the Electricity production center in the north of the country, with an initial capacity of 400,000 vehicles produced per year and the objective of reaching one million.

The brand’s electric models will thus be attached to Ampere, but they will keep a Diamond in the grille. After the Megane, Renault will continue in 2024 with the Scénic and the highly anticipated R5, then in 2025 there will be the modern 4L.

The new funding and partnerships will help Renault develop the next generation of electric models. The manufacturer has an ambitious objective: a 40% reduction in costs per electric car by 2027. This involves various levers, such as a 30% reduction in the diversity of parts or an optimization of the assembly line, with the desire to produce a vehicle in less than 10 hours. Renault also announces its desire to study new battery technologies, from the less expensive sodium ion to the promised solid state revolution.

A “capital market day” will be organized in the second half of the year to tell more regarding Ampere.

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#subsidiary #Ampere #Renault #quickly #bring #cost #electric #cars

2023-06-20 10:48:13

China is Russia’s largest trading partner, with trade between them reaching a record high of $190 billion last year, according to Chinese customs data.

The Asian giant bought regarding 9.71 million tons of oil from Russia last month, compared to 5.4 million tons in February 2022 and 6.3 million tons the following month.

These figures show that China’s imports of Russian crude since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine have almost doubled.

It is in line with trade figures released this month, which showed China’s trade with Russia has risen to levels not seen since February 2022.

Data published by Beijing showed that trade between the two countries last month amounted to 20.5 billion dollars, while the value of Chinese imports from Russia amounted to 11.3 billion dollars.

During a summit in March, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to boost trade to $200 billion in 2023.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said last month that shipments of Russian energy resources to China are set to increase by 40 percent this year.

Beijing says it is a neutral party in the Ukraine war, but has been criticized by Western countries for its refusal to condemn Moscow and for its close strategic partnership with Russia.

“new era”

Speaking regarding the Russian economy this month, Putin acknowledged that the second quarter of last year was the “most difficult” with the West imposing unprecedented sanctions on his country.

Analysts say that China has the upper hand in the relationship with Russia, and that its influence is increasing with the deepening of Moscow’s isolation on the international scene.

In recent years, China and Russia have strengthened their economic and diplomatic cooperation, while their strategic partnership has been deepening since the invasion of Ukraine.

In February, Beijing issued a proposal calling for a “political settlement” to the conflict that Western countries said might enable Russia to keep much of the territory it seized in Ukraine.

During their March summit in Moscow, Xi invited Putin to Beijing and the two leaders declared that relations were “entering a new era.”

Last month, the Chinese president offered his “strong support” for Moscow’s “core interests” in a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, whose visit was the highest-level visit by a Russian official to China since last year’s invasion.

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#Chinas #imports #Russian #oil #highest #levels #invasion #Ukraine

2023-06-20 10:55:55

The Chinese e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba announced Tuesday unexpectedly the replacement of its boss Daniel Zhang, in office for eight years, at a time when the group is undertaking a major restructuring of its activities.

Alibaba, China’s e-commerce pioneer, announced in March the biggest restructuring in its history, splitting its operations into six separate entities.

>> Read once more: Breaking up of Chinese tech giant Alibaba into six units

The group is a heavyweight in the Chinese tech sector, with activities in e-commerce, logistics, cloud computing, media, entertainment, but also artificial intelligence.Joseph C. Tsai (left) will succeed Daniel Zhang on the Alibaba board. [Ye Aung Thu – AFP]

Daniel Zhang will be replaced on September 10 as CEO by Eddie Yongming Wu, who heads the group’s main consumer e-commerce applications (Taobao and Tmall).

For his part, Joseph C. Tsai, the current executive vice president of Alibaba, will succeed Daniel Zhang on the board. Daniel Zhang will remain at Alibaba to lead the cloud computing arm, the group said.

Turn of the authorities

These changes come following several years of turmoil in the tech industry. Alibaba was particularly targeted by a regulatory tightening of the authorities once morest giants in the sector.

Alibaba had been the first company to suffer the punishment of the authorities. At the end of 2020, Beijing had thus stopped a gigantic IPO in Hong Kong of Ant Group, the finance and payment subsidiary of Alibaba, 48 hours before the event. The following month, Alibaba was investigated for impeding competition. These setbacks had strongly penalized its profitability in 2022.

>> Read once more: Chinese competition authorities launch investigation into Alibaba

However, the Chinese authorities seem to be letting go in recent months and adopting a more conciliatory attitude towards the sector, in a context of economic slowdown.

afp/edel

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#Chinese #ecommerce #giant #Alibaba #appoints #boss