French car maker Renault yesterday reported its sales dropped 3.1 percent to 2.3 million vehicles last year as the global auto market slumped in the economic crisis.
Renault also said, however, that its market share had grown from 3.6 percent to 3.7 percent even as the world market shrank 4.7 percent.
Renault said it would try to gain more market share this year but warned the European market could shrink again between 8 percent and 10 percent this year.
Renault is planning to shut down production of its Clio model in Spain and Slovenia but the car will still be made in France, a company executive said on Wednesday.
“We plan to stop production of the Clio in Spain and Slovenia,” Patrick Pelata, Renault’s chief operating officer, told reporters after a meeting with French Industry Minister Christian Estrosi.
PRESSURE
Renault has come under heavy pressure from the French government to keep jobs at home following press reports about a planned shift of Clio production from France to Turkey.
Pelata said no decision has been made on beefing up Renault’s assembly lines in Turkey.
“No decision has been taken because it is not yet time to make decisions,” he said. “In any case, the Clio will be produced in Flins [near Paris], regardless of what happens and that is very clear.”
Government measures taken last year to support the auto sector in the economic downturn included generous loans to car makers on condition that they keep production and jobs in France.
“We’re not giving all that money to support the auto sector so that all our factories can leave to go abroad,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy told members of parliament at an Elysee meeting on Wednesday.
GLOBAL
“I strongly contest the idea that these big companies, just because they are global, no longer have a nationality,” he said.
Government spokesman Luc Chatel said Sarkozy would meet Renault chief executive Carlos Ghosn “very soon” on the Turkey issue.
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that China has “no right to represent Taiwan,” but stressed that the nation was willing to work with Beijing on issues of mutual interest. “The Republic of China has already put down roots in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu,” Lai said in his first Double Ten National Day address outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. “And the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China [PRC] are not subordinate to each other.” “The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan,” he said at the event marking the 113th National Day of
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