The French auto industry was hit hard by the corona crisis. The government now wants to support the ailing industry with eight billion euros, so that it should even be able to become the market leader.
France wants to support the auto industry in its own country in the Corona crisis with grants of more than eight billion euros. President Emmanuel Macron announced this after visiting the factory of electric motor manufacturer Valéo in northern France.
Macron spoke of an “unprecedented crisis” that hit the industry “brutally” both when he visited the company and on Twitter. The production of the car companies has slumped by up to 90 percent. “Our country would not be the same without its big brands: Renault, Peugeot, Citroën,” said the head of state.
Hundreds of thousands of jobs depend on the industry
According to Macron, the financial support should above all preserve the jobs in the corporations. The auto industry secured around 400,000 jobs in France, and there would be another 900,000 jobs with suppliers and service companies. As a result of the economic downturn as a result of the corona pandemic, around 250,000 employees should have been sent on short-time work.
State aid money should also be used by car manufacturers to keep production in France or to move it from abroad to French plants. Macron says that no car model that is manufactured in France should in future have to be manufactured abroad.
Macron wants to drive electromobility
And the head of state is also linking the financial aid to his goal of making France the market leader in the field of electromobility and autonomous driving. France should become “the leading manufacturer of clean cars in Europe,” said Macron. By 2025, the number of electric and hybrid cars made in France should increase to more than one million a year.
In order to further advance electromobility, the scrappage bonus is also to be expanded so that more households will be entitled to it in the future. In addition, one billion euros in government aid is to be used to purchase electric cars.
Is the Renault loan guarantee coming?
In addition to the billions in aid, the final decision on a loan guarantee for the automotive group Renault is still pending. The French government had promised up to five billion euros to the company, in which the state itself holds 15 percent as a shareholder.
Renault had weakened before the Corona crisis and had been in the red for the first time in around ten years. With its final approval of the loan guarantee, the French government is still waiting for unions and the group to agree on a concept for the jobs in the company and the associated plants.
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