According to Xinhua News Agency, the French newspaper "L'Ouest de France" recently published an article entitled "Luca de Meo, head of Renault Group: "What have the Chinese taught us"". Mayo, CEO of the French Renault Group, recently made a public appeal:Facing China's strong development momentum, Europe should change its way of thinking and learn from China in the automotive industry to avoid falling behind completely.
Mayo said that when it comes to the development of the automotive industry, China now "holds the steering wheel" while Europe "sits in the passenger seat" and the road map is no longer controlled by Europe, at least in the short term.
Mayo pointed out that Europe currently controls only 10% of battery production, and 90% of lithium refining capacity is in China. Europe has also been much slower to build charging infrastructure.
There is insufficient demand for electric vehicles in the European market;Because electric cars produced in Europe are not very competitive, they are more expensive than Chinese cars, and the purchasing power of European people cannot keep up.
The development of automobiles toward electrification is a favorable trend, and "we will not go back to the past." Europe should adopt an open-minded attitude, establish new connections, cooperate with Chinese manufacturers, draw inspiration from their methods, and try to predict the direction of new technological revolutions.
Mayo emphasized,Chinese car companies know how to move forward quickly and have the ability to develop new models and put them on the market within two years.
Europe should learn from Chinese companies to design and manufacture faster. Renault decided to establish a research and development center in Shanghai, "which will allow us to develop a small electric car in Europe within two years."
Previous reports showed that the model Renault is cooperating with a Chinese company is a pure electric Twingo model, positioned as a mini car, and is expected to sell for less than 20,000 euros (approximately RMB 157,000).
Renault chose to jointly develop with a Chinese company, which can shorten the development lead time and cost. Subsequently, the vehicle will be produced in Europe as planned.
Su Weiming, chairman and CEO of Renault China, also said that in the new era of vehicle electrification and global competition, China has been 4 to 5 years ahead in research and development of raw materials and batteries.