Three years. Three years to heal the wounds of a Renault on the brink of collapse. Three years and one certainty: that of having found a remedy to competition from Tesla and Chinese manufacturers. Faithful to the audacity that made Renault famous, its general manager Luca de Meo chose a path that no other manufacturer had dared to take until then, that of a split. Objective: to create a company dedicated body and soul to electricity, Ampere.
Freed from the burdens of their august parent company, the 11,000 employees of this new structure will have the agility of a new entrant, assures its management. The skills of a historic builder and more. This is how the Losange group hopes to be the first to market electric vehicles at the price of thermal, all thanks to record development time, and by emphasizing the software dimension of a car designed as a smartphone on wheels – an area in which the Chinese excel. In doing so, Renault hopes to pull the rug out from under its competitors. An effort that requires new money. The manufacturer intends to find it on the stock market, by introducing Ampere in the first half of 2024.
But the business is risky. In an unfavorable economic context, it is not guaranteed that Ampere’s listing will allow it to reach the stratospheric valuation level of a “pure-player” like Tesla. Some fear that Ampere will not even reach that of Renault, whose valuation has been at around 10 billion euros for years.
“It is not certain that the market will buy Ampere, fears Bernard Jullien, lecturer in Bordeaux. Even Stellantis, which nevertheless does everything to attract, remains undercapitalized. Moreover, in terms of team management, the “The idea of saying that automotive virginity constitutes a competitive advantage is the wrong message sent to employees who are working to accumulate skills.” Renault management reserves the right to postpone the IPO if the conditions are not met. Put Ampere into orbit, but not at any cost. It is its future as a competitor in the electric car that Renault is playing for. And that of the majority of its factories in France.