According to Renault chairman Jean-Dominique Senard, his company would be willing to accept French government guarantees in order to strengthen its finances during the ongoing novel coronavirus crisis.
However, a renationalization of the carmaker is not being considered, Senard told Le Parisien. The French government nationalized Renault after World War 2, and privatized them in 1996 while retaining a 15 percent stake.
“We may seek state guarantees like other companies,” said Senard, adding that renationalization was “not on the agenda”, not now, and not even back during the last global financial crisis when Renault received a 3 billion euro ($3.2 billion) government loan, as per Autonews Europe.
Read Also: French Government Will Support Renault, PSA During Coronavirus Crisis
“Remember that in 2008-2009 we never got to that point,” he said, while acknowledging that orders for certain models were currently down by as much as 90 percent. Last month, Renault also reported its first loss in a decade – 141 million euros ($153 million).
Still, a report from earlier this month indicated that the French government is willing to do whatever it takes in order to protect its automakers, meaning both Renault as well as PSA (Peugeot-Citroen); which according to French finance minister Bruno Le Maire, also means considering nationalization.
“The situation is extremely clear… it is out of the question to see big French companies, industrial icons disappear,” he said during an interview. “If to protect our national industrial heritage, we have to resort to nationalization, we are prepared to go that far.”
Former VW Group exec Luca de Meo is set to take over as Renault CEO in July, working alongside Senard in an attempt to bolster the company’s future, as well as its alliance with Nissan.
