by Gilles Guillaume

Paris (Reuters) – Renault will create 150 jobs in Flins (Yvelines) to support the industrial reconversion of the site, Jean-Dominique Senard, president of the diamond group, said on Tuesday during the Automotive Industry Day in Paris.

Engaged in an accelerated shift from thermal engines to electric, the automobile industry is facing a massive employment challenge.

The president of the Automotive Sector Platform (PFA), Luc Chatel, recalled Tuesday that the sector in France had lost 70,000 jobs in ten years, and that 60,000 additional jobs were at risk, unless the 80,000 hiring intentions recorded this year in the sector were followed by effect.

“We must manage both retraining and training for new professions and at the same time be more attractive,” added Luc Chatel. “We are the first industry to make this shift. The vanguard of the battle for the climate is the automobile industry.”

One of Renault’s historic car assembly plants, Flins is in the process of switching to new activities of reconditioning used vehicles, recycling and hydrogen. The site, whose latest model, the Zoé – electric but of an older generation – will see its production cease next year, currently employs around 1,900 people.

MULTIPLY ELECTRIC SALES BY 4

The transformation of the automobile industry towards electrification and other professions linked to the energy transition will be at the heart of the new Strategic Sector Contract, to which the profession and the public authorities are currently putting the finishing touches for the period 2023-27.

It must support the ambition to once again quadruple sales of electric cars on French soil to 800,000 units per year. But an electric vehicle remains 50% more expensive than its thermal equivalent, and the French state must help make these models more affordable, without opening the door wide to more competitive Chinese production.

In November, the government will launch a subsidized “social leasing” offer, allowing the lowest 50% of households to access electric cars at 100 euros per month, excluding insurance but without contribution, and in mid-December a new ecological bonus reserved for the most virtuous vehicles in terms of carbon emissions over their entire production cycle.

The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire confirmed on Tuesday that the envelope allocated to these measures in particular would increase next year from 1.3 billion euros to 1.5 billion euros.

The previous five-year plan (2018-22) aimed at increasing sales of electric vehicles over the period and deploying 100,000 charging stations throughout the country.

Emmanuel Macron’s campaign promise during the 2022 presidential election, social leasing has been delayed due to a lack of a sufficient European supply of affordable electric cars. On Tuesday, Bruno Le Maire cited as eligible models the new Citroën ë-C3 at 23,300 euros from Stellantis, as well as two models already on the market, the Fiat 500-e from Stellantis and the Twingo ZE from Renault.

As for Renault’s future R5, manufactured in France and scheduled for fall 2024, its price is not yet known but Jean-Dominique Senard told Reuters on Tuesday that there was no question of it being absent from the device. “We will do what is necessary,” he said.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume, writing by Zhifan Liu, editing by Kate Entringer)

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