"We have to be competitive outside of state aid." The challenge of Renault and Nissan restarts from Wuhan, China, where today the CEO of the Franco-Japanese automotive joint venture, Carlos Ghosn, inaugurated the first Renault-Nissan plant in the Asian country, where a new low cost electric car. "It is a market that is about to explode and in which we want to be present and competitive, beyond the Chinese government incentives", which provide for loans of up to 100.000 yuan (about 15.000 euros) for the purchase of non-polluting vehicles, but only if produced by Chinese brands.
Precisely for this reason the new zero-craze car, which according to plan will cost "starting from 30.000 yuan, or 4.200 euros", could initially be marketed under the Dongfeng brand, partner of Renault and Nissan in China. Even if the French press believes that this is only a first step to enter the Asian market with the Renault brand, given that the imminent reduction of incentives will open the doors to foreign competitors.
However, Les Eschos has some doubts about the effective credibility of the operation, which could also be "a simple announcement for divert attention from the emissions dossier“, for which after Volkswagen and other car manufacturers Renault has also ended up in the crosshairs. “What if it were just a copy of the experiment done in India with Kwid?” asks the transalpine business daily. "If we make it in China, we will make it all over the world", however said Ghosn, who will present the new business plan of Renault and Nissan for the five-year period 2017-2022 within the year.
Meanwhile, the Japanese brand continues its journey on the electric car Nissan, of which the Brazilian manager Ghosn is always, who in Spain is carrying out a own project with the Italian Enel. “The group – said the Italian CEO Francesco Starace in Madrid, on the occasion of the presentation of the new brand di Enel – is carrying out a project which plans to be able to charge and discharge the batteries of electric cars, using them as accumulators”. In essence, the electricity that remains stored in electric cars when they are stationary could be used to offset grid needs, of course by paying the vehicle owners. In a few months, the experimental phase will end and the project could be exported to other countries, including Italy, where among other things Starace has also announced that 20 electric columns will be built within three years.
