Renault will close the Ampere division, the electric brand wanted by De Meo

Renault will close its Ampere division from July. The downsizing of Ampere, according to early reports in the French newspaper Le Figaro, is a clear change of pace implemented by Renault's new CEO, François Provost, compared to his predecessor, Luca de Meo. Not only because this is the second rationalisation of activities relating to the research, development and production of electric models after the downsizing of Mobilize, but also because other planned solutions towards decarbonisation could be changing.

Ampere was established in 2023 as a division specialising in the electrical business and the development of the software component, as well as battery business. Now, however, the Ampere brand will continue to exist solely to identify operations on software development and electronic architectures, and in Ampere Energy for battery business. The non-option in 2024 of the listing of Ampere, then valued at between €8 billion and €10 billion, must have convinced them that it was more logical to reintegrate the division within Renault.

It should be borne in mind that Ampere's product plan envisaged a range oriented towards the revival of historical and even mass-market model names: a total of seven cars planned by 2031, with names such as Renault 5, 4, Scenic E-Tech and Twingo, all more or less key players in the revival of electric demand. The industrial target also included a drastic reduction in production costs of electric vehicles, estimated at around 40 per cent, also a key element in making the prices of future cars competitive in a mass market.

In the coming months, it will be essential to monitor the group's final choices in order to understand whether Ampere will still remain an autonomous pillar of Renault's strategy or whether it really will return under the umbrella of the historical brand and will, in fact, be dismantled, with important repercussions not only on suppliers, but also on the plants and employment linked to the project. Although engineers and workers from the Ampere division totalling 12,00 employees will be relocated within Renault, Le Figaro pointed out. A decision that had long been on the French brand's agenda.

For Renault's industrial strategy, the fate of Ampere remains a crucial node. While integration could simplify the management of technological synergies, the challenge of reconciling the ambition of rapid innovation with budgetary and operational efficiency needs to be managed. On the contrary, closing or dismantling the division would entail industrial costs, as well as the risk of delaying the electrical product plan. This affair is confirmation that the electrical revolution is a process that involves the financial structure and corporate structures to market dynamics.