WEBVTT - Renault CEO Luca de Meo Talks EV Demand, Pricing

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. I'm very pleased now

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<v Speaker 1>to be joined by the CEO of Reno. Look at

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<v Speaker 1>the mail. Thank you so much for joining us today.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Bloomberg. So listen, you've launched all of these new cars,

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<v Speaker 1>the EV's in front of a backdrop of EV demand

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<v Speaker 1>falling precipitously. How are you adapting your sort of strategy there?

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, actually, we have a strategy since four years

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<v Speaker 2>on two legs. One is we have very strong iybrid technology,

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<v Speaker 2>so working pretty well. We're number two, number three in

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<v Speaker 2>Europe on the ibrid segments, on all segments. But on

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<v Speaker 2>the other side, we made the decision to develop two platforms,

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<v Speaker 2>one for small cars and one from medium cars full

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<v Speaker 2>electric past we think that we need. These are two

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<v Speaker 2>different sports and you know, an EV and an IBRID

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<v Speaker 2>card to different animals, and here you see the result.

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<v Speaker 2>The good thing about that is that you can get

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<v Speaker 2>out cars like Renal five, Rental four or the twin

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<v Speaker 2>or legendary products, you know, and with the best probably

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<v Speaker 2>the best EV platform for small cars in the world.

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<v Speaker 1>Right and then in terms of the sort of magic

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<v Speaker 1>number for the pricing on evs, what do you think

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<v Speaker 1>that is in order to have it really take off

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<v Speaker 1>here in Europe.

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<v Speaker 2>Now, look, I think I think we speak too much

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<v Speaker 2>about least price of the car. What you should include

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<v Speaker 2>in the equation is also you know, the cost of

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<v Speaker 2>using this thing. So normally charging is fifty thirty percent

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<v Speaker 2>of fueling, okay, and the maintenance cost that is actually

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<v Speaker 2>alf on a car, So normally we should talk about that.

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<v Speaker 2>But if you look at the Toronto five is twenty

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<v Speaker 2>five thousand euro as a starting price, it's actually ten

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<v Speaker 2>thousand euro less than any of the competitors. Why because

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<v Speaker 2>we actually focus on the old ecosystem, the platform on

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<v Speaker 2>this with the Twin that you see, you know, close

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<v Speaker 2>to us, we will be able in twenty twenty six

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<v Speaker 2>to go below twenty thousand urine entry price. I think

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<v Speaker 2>it's a kind of a decent you know proposition already,

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<v Speaker 2>I mean above twenty five thousand you you probably have

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<v Speaker 2>fifty sixty percent of the European market in general.

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<v Speaker 1>And really a difference from what we were talking about

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<v Speaker 1>a year ago, right in terms of emissions regulations. You've

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<v Speaker 1>been very outspoken about this. The EU, on the one hand,

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<v Speaker 1>wants to sell more EVAs on the other is going

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<v Speaker 1>to make it more difficult starting next year. How much

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<v Speaker 1>you intend or how much you think you're gonna have

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<v Speaker 1>to pay in terms of fines coming next year.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean we as an industry, we estimated that if

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<v Speaker 2>the market continues at that speed, which is out of

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<v Speaker 2>what we should be for a number of reasons. It's

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<v Speaker 2>not necessarily our fault as an OEMs because we were

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<v Speaker 2>the ones that they have engaged two hundred and fifty billion.

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<v Speaker 2>You're into the thing, so we have all interest that

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<v Speaker 2>this thing works. So there's nobody in the industry that

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<v Speaker 2>actually discussed the combonization path. Is the rhythm and the

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<v Speaker 2>way and the mechanism to adjust to get to the target.

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<v Speaker 2>This is the important discussion. So I calculate, we calculate

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<v Speaker 2>that it's more than a fifteen sixteen billion, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>if it continues like this. But then you have people

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<v Speaker 2>like us that are trying to bring let's say, a

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<v Speaker 2>solution like this one. I mean, give you an information

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<v Speaker 2>for Bloomberg. We actually made thirty five percent mix of

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<v Speaker 2>EV this weekend on the open door in France. So

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<v Speaker 2>it means that when you have the product, maybe you

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<v Speaker 2>can change the destiny of thing. But I speak as

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<v Speaker 2>a as a president of the ASSAY, I have to

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<v Speaker 2>speak for the old industry, right and if you look

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<v Speaker 2>at the speed, it's not enough. So we need everybody behind,

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<v Speaker 2>also the consumer, because we are doing something that is

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<v Speaker 2>good for the prodectivity and society.

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<v Speaker 1>So what do policymakers need to do in order to

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<v Speaker 1>get that? If they don't want to change their desires,

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<v Speaker 1>how do they change the desires of the consumer?

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<v Speaker 2>I think we are let's say, you know, this is

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<v Speaker 2>our responsibility with the product. I think we need to

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<v Speaker 2>accelerate the charging infrastructure. I think we need to give

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<v Speaker 2>transparency or the pricing of electricity and find a way

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<v Speaker 2>to make it at least stable. These things are the people,

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<v Speaker 2>and I believe that you know, in some of the

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<v Speaker 2>areas you probably need some support to boost the demand

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<v Speaker 2>because the demand is at that level is not natural.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And then as president of the SCA, do you

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<v Speaker 1>see factory closures this year in Europe happening at a

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<v Speaker 1>sort of more rapid pace.

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<v Speaker 2>I if the thing goes like this, you know, one

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<v Speaker 2>of the solutions to make the math and to make

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<v Speaker 2>the average fleet, you know, one of the solutions is

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<v Speaker 2>to actually stop producing combustion engine cars that are big offenders.

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<v Speaker 2>And we made the estimation. It's like between passenger car

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<v Speaker 2>and utility vehicles like a commercial vehicle. It's probably we

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<v Speaker 2>estimate two point eight million cars. This is ten plants

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<v Speaker 2>in Europe. So that's that's the of course, the way

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<v Speaker 2>you get there is, you know, you buy credits to

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<v Speaker 2>the Chinese of to Tesla. You you know, you you

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<v Speaker 2>push the price of evs so that you but you

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<v Speaker 2>kill the baby, you know, and the cradle or or

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<v Speaker 2>you know, you stop producing let's say combustion engine car.

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<v Speaker 2>If you only do that is two point eight million cards.

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<v Speaker 2>So it's big story.

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<v Speaker 1>And then I've a quick question for you in terms

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<v Speaker 1>of your view on the euse approach on the terrafts

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<v Speaker 1>or China. Do you see that you could potentially have

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<v Speaker 1>a partnership with one of the Chinese companies here? Is

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<v Speaker 1>that going to be the new model going forward? Kind

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<v Speaker 1>of inverting what we saw traditionally We.

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<v Speaker 2>Always said that, I mean, I don't comment on the

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<v Speaker 2>on the on the tart thing because this is almost

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<v Speaker 2>a legal thing. This is based on an application of

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<v Speaker 2>the rules of the WTO that everybody's signed. So I

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<v Speaker 2>have nothing to say.

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<v Speaker 1>Sure, but you adapt your business as a function of

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<v Speaker 1>what happens with.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, Yeah, I mean I adapt on my business. I

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<v Speaker 2>don't have a lot of transaction between the China and Europe.

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<v Speaker 2>This is true maybe for other companies. So I don't

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<v Speaker 2>want to comment on that because this is nothing to

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<v Speaker 2>comment from business point of view. What we also said

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<v Speaker 2>is that without good cooperation with the Chinese, I think

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<v Speaker 2>it would be more difficult to ramp up electrification in Europe

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<v Speaker 2>because they have in their hands, you know, materials, chemistry,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, gigafactory capacity, battery capacity, et cetera. So so

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<v Speaker 2>we need to find a deal with China, okay, and

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<v Speaker 2>we need to get used to a form of co

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<v Speaker 2>petition that meets basic and one side you compete, on

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<v Speaker 2>the other side you co operate, as actually they did

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<v Speaker 2>with us when we went twenty five years ago in

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<v Speaker 2>China to take also advantage of the Chinese market.

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<v Speaker 1>And then a final question for you, did you watch

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<v Speaker 1>Elon Musk's presentation of the cyber cab? What did you did?

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<v Speaker 1>Would you make of that?

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<v Speaker 2>In the autonomous but look, I think you know, I

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<v Speaker 2>think we are investing in anonomous driving. I guess Renaludd

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<v Speaker 2>kind of be a follower. We have initiatives with a

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<v Speaker 2>company called we Ride to go to a level four.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm more interested, honestly in looking at cars that are evolutionary, connected,

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<v Speaker 2>intelligent that can speak where you know, the man machine

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<v Speaker 2>interface is very modern. So I'm more interested on using

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<v Speaker 2>the power of technology to make kind of machine become humans.

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<v Speaker 2>That's I think most important. And then so I don't

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<v Speaker 2>want to comment on anyway, you know, test lass endeavors

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<v Speaker 2>and strategy is not you know, I'm not an opinionist.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm you know, I'm a competitor.

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<v Speaker 1>So all right, wellloc at to Mayo, thank you so

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<v Speaker 1>much for your time there, and the sort of the

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<v Speaker 1>future of the car industry and how he sees the

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<v Speaker 1>sort of future of the machine and human being sort

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<v Speaker 1>of collaborating in the future for this for this industry,