Volkswagen and Renault, stop cheap electric car project
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Volkswagen has broken off talks with Renault for the joint development of an affordable electric version of the €20,000 electric Twingo, according to two sources telling Reuters. The German group will go ahead with the development of its own affordable electric vehicle (Ev) (the famous ID.2all, announced as early as March 2023 but then postponed to the second half of this decade). Renault will go ahead with its lithium-ion citycar, expected on the market in 2026.
The idea behind the talks was that the collaboration would reduce costs, a real mountain to climb for European car manufacturers in the face of the much cheaper products made in China, around 20% for models in the same segment.
The companies 'failed to reach an agreement' after several months of negotiations, one of the sources said. Ampere, Renault's Ev division dedicated to battery cars, which oversees the Twingo programme, would not comment. Another source said that the deal was very close, but that Volkswagen left the negotiating table and decided to develop a model on its own. Why? Basically because the French had wanted to build the new car in one of its plants, while VW is trying to use the plants in Europe, which are already constrained by market trends, to their maximum capacity.
A decision by the Wolfsburg group is expected within a few weeks. Thomas Schäfer, CEO of the Volkswagen brand, has stated that he wants to launch a low-priced Bev (20-25 thousand euro) by 2027, a goal also made public by the group's CEO, Oliver Blume.
Renault could also remain open to other partners, e.g. the alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi, which has, however, cooled down a lot recently, with the protagonists increasingly oriented towards independent development plans, apart from the launch of new models in India.
