Financial Services, October 31 (Reporter Liu Yang) Renault, which has been dormant in the Chinese market for a long time, has returned to the public eye due to its “first birthday” of Ampere (Ampere), which focuses on the smart electric vehicle sector.

On October 30, while disclosing its financial report for the third quarter of 2024, the French car manufacturer also announced the progress and future direction of Amper since its first anniversary. “In order to accelerate the R&D process of electric vehicles, Amper works closely with Chinese partners through the Advanced China Development Center, a R&D team established by Renault Group in China. The team was formed to promote the future development of Ampere and Renault Group through integration and learning from China's electric ecosystem during the development phase.” Although there are only a few words about the Chinese market in this “birthday declaration,” there is quite a bit of information behind it.

According to industry insiders, this statement on the Chinese market is equivalent to Renault's first official confirmation of the existence of a Chinese R&D team, indicating that Renault has not left China; secondly, Renault's approach once again highlights the ecological advantages of the Chinese supply chain and its irreplaceable position in the intelligent electrification transformation of the global automotive industry.

“In March of this year, Renault's R&D team in China began recruiting. Currently, the team has more than 100 people.” An industry source close to Renault China revealed that this project, which can be called a “top secret” project within Renault, brings together engineers from various fields such as engineering development and procurement. Its primary responsibility is to use the resources of China's smart electric vehicle industry chain within two years to develop an economical electric vehicle that sells for less than 0.02 million euros.

Renault announced in June of this year that it is cooperating with a Chinese company to develop an electric Twingo model at a price of no more than 0.02 million euros. In July, Renault signed a cooperation agreement with the Slovenian government, confirming that the new car will be manufactured at the Novo Mesto plant in Slovenia. The new production line will be completed in 2026, with a target production capacity of 0.15 million vehicles.

“Strictly speaking, Twingo's R&D project in China is not limited to just one company, but involves many upstream companies in the industrial chain, such as chassis, etc.” According to the industry insider mentioned above, Renault's Chinese R&D team will make full use of existing ecological resources in China and cooperate with Renault's French engineering team to complete the research and development of Twingo.

Renault's “asset-light” R&D operation model using existing ecological resources has been around for a long time. In October of last year, Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo (Luca de Meo) led members of the Renault Group Management Committee to China and began a week-long trip to China. During this period, members of the Renault Group Management Committee and the Renault China team led by Renault China Chairman and CEO Weiming Soh (Weiming Soh) met with partners such as Dongfeng Motor Group, Geely Holding Group, and CICC, and discussed the possibility of deepening cooperation in the future on key topics such as “Participating in China's New Energy Ecosystem and Empowering the Global Industrial Chain”.

“China's NEV ecosystem has clear international competitive advantages, including the electric vehicle value chain, ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) and user experience, convenient intelligent solutions, and cabin interior design.” At the time, Su Weiming said that it is important how to make collaborative and efficient use of these advantages, promote international joint development, and use this ecosystem to provide more efficient and comprehensive products and services to global consumers. “In the future, Renault China will focus on two areas. One is improving vehicle research and development capabilities, and the other is exploring connections with the Chinese industrial ecosystem, including suppliers at all levels within the system, to find opportunities for win-win cooperation.”

Prior to that, Renault had already reached cooperation with some local supply chain companies in China, such as Wenyuan Zhixing in the field of smart driving, Vision Power in the power battery sector, and the Ningde Era. In addition, Renault also established a joint venture with Minshi Group to start producing battery cases in France.

“By 2030, China, Europe, and the United States will become the three major global markets for new energy vehicles. China is likely, or will, become the center of the global automotive supply chain after the automobile transformation.” Zhang Yongwei, vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicle 100 People's Association, said in an analysis.