In twenty-five years of tumultuous union, Nissan has had to demonstrate its position of strength more than once. Didn’t Renault’s low stock market valuation naturally argue in favor of a rebalancing of the Alliance? After the financial crisis of 2008 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the fall in shares even caused the capitalization of the diamond group to plummet below the value of its stake in Nissan.
What do its 100,000 employees around the world, capable of selling 2 to 3 million cars each year, innovate in electricity and the circular economy, matter: for the financial markets, the French manufacturer has always been poorly valued… Or not at all. “In addition to the complexity of its alliance, Renault has long been a victim of the discount applied to conglomerates or holding companies, where the whole is often less than the sum of its parts,” observed an analyst with the Reuters agency last year. , in reference to Renault’s automotive activities, its bank and its shares in the Japanese manufacturer. For the rationality of financial markets, we will come back.
But recently, the tide has turned. Renault’s capitalization has broken through its glass ceiling of around 10 billion euros and exceeds that of Nissan by almost a billion euros – at 14.7 billion euros on April 11, compared to the equivalent of 13, 9 billion euros on the Japanese side. The quasi-divorce recorded in January by the Alliance partners clearly allows the markets to finally see things clearly. This symbolic stock market inversion has above all the virtue of testifying to the efforts of the French manufacturer to emerge from the dark times into which the arrest of its ex-CEO Carlos Ghosn had plunged it in 2018. This, at a time when its Japanese competitor is suffering of its exposure to China and the aging of its models.
After coming close to leaving the road, the French group boasted “historic” performances for the past year, which are largely due to its move upmarket. Its affordable electric projects – around 20,000 euros all the same – are arousing interest, even among its competitors. Its general manager Luca de Meo confirmed to the site Automotive News be in discussions with Volkswagen around a small battery model for the European market. This augurs well for a possible future joint project. After its joint venture with the Chinese Geely a year ago, the French company approached the shipowner CMA-CGM and its Swedish competitor Volvo, itself owned by Geely, at the beginning of April to work on electric utilities. Alliances, but with a little “a”, to find a place in the electric battery car market.