Renault: State-Sponsored Excellence

Cammy Corrigan
by Cammy Corrigan

The Wall Street Journal reports that Renault had a terrible 2009. The French automaker recorded € 3.07 billion in losses (coincidentally, about the same amount it last received in French government bailout loans), including €1.56 billion absorbed from Nissan and its 21% stake in Volvo trucks. And if that weren’t bad enough, Renault’s revenue dropped 11%, on top of a 3.1% decline the year before. And there’s precious little light at the end of the tunnel either, as Renault’s all-important European market is projected to swoon by as much as ten percent next year. The only bright spot in this rather dour mess is the fact that Renault managed to reduce their net debt by €2.02 billion to €5.92 billion. Renault and Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, said that this action was imperative in order to improve their credit rating. This is presumably because Renault want to build a production plant in Algeria and establish themselves in China [Ed: already?] and will need the capital in a chilly credit market. Mr Ghosn went on to say that he expects to get €1 billion in synergies from Renault and Nissan. In other words, cost cutting. With French government already tugging at the strings, and investments in another moribund, state-rescued Russian automaker, Ghosn’s job is probably not the most envied in the auto industry. Except perhaps for a chap named Akio…

Cammy Corrigan
Cammy Corrigan

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  • Psarhjinian Psarhjinian on Feb 11, 2010
    Ghosn’s job is probably not the most envied in the auto industry. Except perhaps for a chap named Akio… Toyota's roughest patch in fifty years is, quite frankly, better than many other automakers' baseline. I think quite a few people would change places with Akio.
  • Johnny ro Johnny ro on Feb 11, 2010

    excuse me but is that a plastic model of the man propped up against the car?

  • Geo. Levecque Geo. Levecque on Feb 11, 2010

    There was a good video last night on a Canadian TV station about the Leaf, in it the commentator promised that Nissan would make sure that a 220 Volt charging system for the new "Leaf vehicle" would be installed in every owner's garage by the year 2011! They didn't comment if you had no Garage to store your vehicle either!

  • Ronnie Schreiber Ronnie Schreiber on Feb 12, 2010

    Carlos can't be happy these days. He had a deal worked out to supply Roger Penske with product for Saturn and the Renault board overruled him.

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