Renault doesn’t rule out buying another car manufacturer at some point in the future, Renault Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn has told shareholders, adding that there are no immediate plans to do so.
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There has been speculation for some time in the auto industry that Renault might be interested in buying a luxury brand, with Ford rumoured to be heading the list of possible sellers. But Ford was said to be only prepared to sell loss-making Jaguar and not Volvo, which Renault really wanted.
Ghosn also reaffirmed the company’s ambitious target to increasing its car sales by 800,000 vehicles by 2009 compared with 2005. In February, Ghosn unveiled a plan dubbed ‘Renault Commitment 2009’ that he said would make the carmaker “the most profitable European volume car company”.
Ghosn told shareholders that Renault’s relatively strong balance sheet and healthy cash generation “allows us a lot of elbow room to act at a time when mounting raw material prices, stiff competition among car manufacturers, rising interest rates and high oil prices are weakening the industry.”
Ghosn also said that in its current configuration Renault could never achieve an operating margin as high as its alliance partner Nissan.
