To get the EU to back down on this issue, opponents of the battery electric vehicle (BEV) frequently cite the threat of Chinese domination. This is a very real threat, not only in China and/or in the field of batteries, where it is already evident, but also in the long term on the automotive market itself in Europe. However, on closer inspection, it becomes clear that it is not so much electrification as the distribution, industrial development and product strategies of the Europeans that offer the Chinese offensive the most powerful vectors for success.

In its article at the end of August on the 'conquest of Europe' by Chinese manufacturers, the daily Les Echos pointed out that 'traditional distributors are tempted by Chinese approaches' and that 'some, such as Aiways and MG, are also taking advantage of the demand from short-term rental companies, to whom manufacturers prefer the most profitable sales channels'. read more

Barely envisaged, relocations already contested deserve to be defendedWhile we continue to import massively the vehicles we consume, whether electric or thermal, the movement to relocate assemblies, barely begun, is already being contested in the name of the obvious economic advantages of globalisation. Faced with this counter-offensive from the supporters of globalisation, we must stand firm and continue to try to make electrification an opportunity for the reindustrialisation of the French car industry.

In terms of jobs, added value, volumes produced and foreign trade, the French automobile industry has experienced a fairly rapid descent into hell over the last twenty years. This is mainly due to the gap that has been created between the vehicles that the French buy and those that the manufacturers believe can be profitably assembled in France: the market is dominated by the B segment, which the French manufacturers have decided not to assemble in France. read more

Volkswagen seems to be experiencing difficulties in China in order to avoid being ousted by the Chinese brands on the electric or electrified vehicle market. This difficulty, which is also that of Tesla in the face of BYD and the other major Chinese players, refers to the success of the industrial and technological policy of the Chinese authorities, which aimed to ensure that electrification would allow the sinicisation of the Chinese automobile. In China, as in Europe and the United States, this reality calls for reflection and policies that cannot be reduced to a headlong rush to move upmarket.

At the beginning of July, the press reported the appearance in China of the first true copy of the Citroën Ami, priced at 2,500 euros.

The same week, commenting on the figures for global sales of electric or electrified vehicles (the famous NEVs for New Energy Vehicles) in the first half of 2022, commentators stressed that Tesla was losing its global leadership to BYD. For example, Forbes reported, "BYD delivered 641,350 EVs and plug-in hybrids to customers in the first half of the year, up 315 percent from a year earlier, compared with Tesla's 564,743, up 46 percent." read more

As German coal-fired power stations restart, the European Parliament is examining in committee and then in plenary the famous "taxonomy" which designates what, in terms of electricity production, can be considered green and what cannot be supported as such. For the automotive industry, which needs more and more electricity not only to run vehicles but also to produce batteries, this debate is crucial. France, which is already struggling to defend its "low carbon" competitive advantage, must be able to preserve it. Strangely enough, this will only be possible politically if we accept that French nuclear power is treated unfairly like German gas.

Our German neighbours, who until recently were not far from giving us lessons in ecology and energy policy by extolling the merits of their EnergieWende, have, through the voice of their minister, Robert Habeck, an ecologist who joined the government last December to decarbonise the German economy, announced that they were going to extend the life of coal-fired power stations.  read more

As the past week has shown, the debate on the electric vehicle is more a religious war than a real political battle over the automotive industry and services we want to develop and the vehicles we want consumers to use. Since the strategy pursued by the politicians and the Commission is to put the industry against the wall and force it to keep a bet they have made for it, the time has come to ask the operational questions, which are no less political: how do we want to fulfil these specifications and/or how can we keep this bet in our best interests? read more

It is almost certain, at the end of May 2022, that the proposals to ban the registration of new combustion vehicles in 2035 will be adopted. German and other opponents are throwing in the towel and the PFA's usual objections appear to be a futile last stand. In a context where most of the 27 Member States are not very concerned and where, since the VW affair, the voice of industry has become barely audible, these statements are unlikely to be heard. Although not all the arguments put forward are equally acceptable, the issues of the ability of households to purchase electric vehicles and the ability of employees to keep their jobs are unavoidable and NGOs and governments would do well to take them into account. read more

The publication of a fairly serious study on the vehicles still registered on 1st January of each year for the years 2012 to 2020 by the Apur concluded that the number of vehicles in the Greater Paris Metropolis has fallen over the last three years and that the number of vehicles in the Ile-de-France region will fall by 2020. This has led to comments that over-interpret this result to a large extent and tend to surf on the idea that Paris is less and less an exception and that what has been happening there for many years now will also happen elsewhere. The very content of the study tends, we claim, to show that the opposite is true.

It is with great pride that the Apur (1) officials have communicated the results of a study that the agency has devoted to the evolution of car fleets in the Greater Paris metropolis (MGP) and the Ile-de-France. Indeed, the study, which examines vehicles registered on 1 January of each year over the period 2012-2021, shows that, over the last few years, the decline in the number of vehicles no longer concerns only Paris but also the Greater Paris region (131 municipalities) and even, for 2020, the last year studied, the entire Ile-de-France.  read more

The debate on agent contracts within the professions involved in the car distribution business is progressing. It still needs to be clarified because, in 2022, it is difficult to decide on the reliability of the "new model" if we take as a reference very atypical years when, between Covid and the semi-conductor crisis, no usual reference is valid any more. Nevertheless, by focusing on the key issue of vehicle stocks and their financing, the terms of the debate begin to become clearer.

The regulatory issue is not yet settled and the objection raised by Cecra around "non genuine" agency contracts is testament to this. Nevertheless, as the threat becomes clearer at Stellantis, VW (Cupra) and others, the fundamental questions are beginning to emerge, and they are primarily economic.

They consist in asking whether and under what conditions manufacturers could give up the dealership model and the advantages it has for them and/or whether their current reforming ardour is mainly explained by the unusual combination of factors to which the business is subjected. read more

One could summarise Renault's problem with the war in Ukraine today by a formula of the type "impossible to do nothing and difficult not to be accused of doing too little". In fact, given the extent of the exactions perpetrated by a Putin who has been pampered by Renault (as by most French politicians and businessmen) up to now, it seems very complicated to do nothing and wait for a return to better political fortune. However, we should not allow ourselves to be lectured by actors who have nothing to lose in this story and could even have a lot to gain. Without rushing into anything, the politicians and the board of directors of Renault would gain by looking for a narrow path which would allow them to avoid sacrificing assets of crucial - even vital - importance for Renault. read more