France’s Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire will participate at a meeting in Paris tomorrow (22 May) to discuss the future of the country’s automotive sector.
Reports in France indicate Renault and PSA CEOs, Carlos Ghosn and Carlos Tavares will be at the meeting, as well as Transport Minister, Elisabeth Borne.
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France has designated ten industries it views as particularly strategic (Comités Stratégiques de Filière or CSF), of which CSF Automobile is one. Also present tomorrow, will be Tier 1 suppliers as well as manufacturers involved in sectors such as plastics, electronics, foundries, heavy vehicles, buses and coaches.
“This upstream sector represents nearly 4,000 industrial businesses and employs 400,000 people in France,” said a statement from the Finance Ministry. “It represents turnover of EUR155bn (US$182bn) and an an export value of EUR49bn. It is the sector which files the most patents: it also invests more than EUR6bn per year in R&D.
“The downstream sector represents a small and medium-sized businesses ecosystem which is particularly dense; it is structured around five main areas: Distribution (vehicles and fuels), car maintenance, vehicle services, road training and recycling. It represents 139,000 businesses and more than 400,000 jobs.
“If the automotive sector indicators are, for the moment, positive, the industry is nonetheless confronted by major challenges. Firstly, it is confronted by disruptive technology linked principally to an environmental agenda with electric power and an evolution of energy mixes which will profoundly impact the sector.
“It is also confronted by digital disruption, with connected, intelligent, and autonomous vehicles and the emergence of complex subjects such as data held by the vehicle. This meeting will be a chance for the Strategic Committee to propose a series of reciprocal commitments through a sector contract to the State.
“The Ministers will sign the automotive sector Strategic Contract for 2018-2022 and will hold a press briefing at the end of the meeting.”
