Pays émergents

This November, Volkswagen's offensive in the electrical vehicle resulted in an impressive series of announcements and statements by the group's top executives, who seem to want to convince everyone that the inevitable move towards battery-powered electric vehicles is underway and that Volkswagen is the most ready of all manufacturers to lead this change.

 

There is undoubtedly a "Coué method" dimension here that leads managers, afraid of the risks they take, to want to convince themselves, their teams and customers that the battery-powered EV is the right choice.
Above all, there is obviously a very political will to impose a global standard and to create competitive rules of the game for the automotive industry, which will be all the easier for Volkswagen to respect as they will have been largely designed around its convictions and proposals.

 

One of the signs of this political work was given when Angela Merkel, at the beginning of the month, honoured the invitation of the group's leaders to attend the launch of the ID3 assemby plant at the Zwickau plant in eastern Saxony.

A mesure que se précisent les termes exacts du deal en cours de négociation et les réactions des marchés, les contours de ce 50-50 paraissent un peu moins "paritaires". En effet, les financiers calculent sur la base des valorisations respectives des deux groupes avant l’annonce du projet et des opérations qui vont être conduites avant le deal que l’on serait plutôt à 60-40 au profit de PSA et que PSA consent donc pour que le deal se fasse à un important sacrifice.

En effet, à la clôture de mercredi soir, la capitalisation de PSA s'élevait à 23,19 milliards d'euros quand celle de FCA s'établissait à 18,22 milliards d'euros. On a appris que, avant la réalisation de l’opération, FCA distribuerait à ses actionnaires un dividende exceptionnel de 5,5 milliards d’euros, ainsi que sa participation dans Comau estimée à 250 millions d'euros.

As if to mark his difference and/or to highlight what might have opposed her to Thierry Bolloré (Renault's former CEO, recently laid off), Clotilde Delbos (appointed to replace him) began her interim period at the head office of the Renault group with a "profit warning": no, the return to positive cash flow in the second half of the year will not offset the €700 million negative cash flow of the first half; no, revenue will not be constant but will fall by 3 to 4% and the operating margin will be 5% rather than 6% as announced in July; no, the 2022 plan will not be implemented and it is urgent to redefine it so that everyone knows where he is going.

 

She did not just talk to the analysts. She also spoke on Tuesday in a video for employees to tell them that the "Drive the Future" plan had to be taken up again because the market has changed over the past two years and that "unfortunately, the situation did not improve during the summer" and requires that the strategy be adjusted to "get Renault back on track".