Renault: Renault reflects on cost reductions, the press evokes 3,000 job cuts

PARIS (Reuters) – Renault said on Saturday lead “reflections” “in the face of the uncertainties of the automotive market” and an “extremely competitive context” but assured that no decision was made concerning possible deletions of posts, the day after an article in the informed evoking a project of 3,000 positions in the world.

According to the online media, this plan of the French car manufacturer “should lead to reducing the number of employees in the support services, that is to say human resources, finance, marketing” and the headquarters of Boulogne-Billancourt would be affected.

A source cited by the informed said that a final decision should be made by the end of the year.

Asked about this, a Renault spokesman said that “to date, we have no figures to communicate because no decision is made”.

“Faced with the uncertainties of the automotive market and in the face of the extremely competitive context, we confirm having reflections on axes of simplification, speed of execution and optimization of our fixed costs,” he added.

Renault employed 98,636 people worldwide at the end of last year.

The group reported at the end of July a net loss, starting from the group, from 11.18 billion euros to the first half, a consequence in particular of an exceptional loss of 9.3 billion on its participation in Nissan whose accounting method it modified.

The diamond group, who appointed François Provost new managing director to replace Luca de Meo, who left to direct the Luxury Kering group, also announced that by excluding the impacts linked to Nissan – the exceptional loss and the negative contribution to the results, which will no longer affect the result the following exercises – its net profit, part of the group, shows a profit of 461 million euros over the first six of the year.

This figure was nevertheless divided by three over one year, in particular reflecting the degradation observed on the market for utility vehicles, costs associated with the rise of electric vehicles and commercial pressures in a more competitive environment.

(Written by Geert de Clercq, Jean-Stéphane Brosse)