“We support all sectors in this change,” assures Roland Lescure

The Minister Delegate in charge of Industry was Franceinfo’s eco guest on Friday, to return to the leasing launched for electric cars and discuss the future of the automobile industry.

Emmanuel Macron announced on December 14 the leasing of electric cars at 100 euros per month for the most modest. At the same time, the list of electric cars eligible for the electric bonus from January 1, 2024 was published. On the basis of environmental criteria, this new bonus, a remodeled version of the “ecological bonus”, will almost exclusively favor electric models produced in France or in Europe. Roland Lescure, the Minister Delegate in charge of Industry was the eco guest of franceinfo, Friday December 15, to return to these announcements.

franceinfo: With this new bonus, the idea is to promote French and European production, it is assumed protectionism ?

Roland Lescure : No, it’s taking into account the fact that when we put a billion euros into the automobile bonus to help our fellow citizens buy electric vehicles, it is still incomprehensible that 300 million of that billion goes to the ends of the earth for producers. which are at the end of the world and whose production itself is very carbon-intensive. We have European producers for the most part, who produce cleanly and therefore obviously, if we have to subsidize demand, that is to say the buyers, we must be able to do so with vehicles which are actually clean. production at the highway.

Will leasing for electric cars, announced by the president, convince motorists to choose French or European in the face of Chinese and American competition? ?

Yes, we are convinced of it. I am convinced that we can reconcile economy, ecology and social issues: economy means producing at home; ecology, it’s carbon-free; and social, it means doing it for everyone. Social leasing will allow French people, whose income is modest and who travel a lot, to have access to an electric vehicle at 100 euros per month which will obviously allow them to accelerate their own carbon transition. Basically, everyone today is going to decarbonize by doing it with the support of the State and by doing it, what’s more, and this is important, by purchasing French and European vehicles.

Can we produce a small electric car like Renault’s future Twingo in France? It has not been decided by the manufacturer, but it seems that we are leaning towards production in Slovenia.

For the Twingo, we’ll see. In any case, we already know that Renault is committed to producing the new R5 in France. For me, the R5 was my first car, it was a long time ago. To see that a legendary car of this type will be reinvented, electric, produced in France, it is excellent news. When we add up all the vehicle construction commitments in France in the coming years, we will have more than a million by 2027 and nearly two million by 2030. So the answer is: yes, we can produce electricity in France, including modest-sized vehicles. We will also produce elsewhere in Europe and we will also sell in Europe. Besides, I hope that the R5s will not only be sold in France. But I am proud that the European market, which is a driving force in electrification, is being built with the support of French manufacturers Peugeot, Renault, Citroën and a few others.

Are you confident in a timetable for the end of the sale of new thermal engine cars in Europe in 2035? ?

Extremely confident. Firstly because we have given visibility to manufacturers in Europe and it is the only place in the world where we are committed to this. We gave a precise date and then, obviously, we supported the manufacturers in this change, the big ones that I spoke about, the manufacturers, but also all the sectors. Because the big ones, I was going to say they can do it, they know how to do it. But all the small and medium-sized businesses that make up the fabric of the automotive sector, we also support them in this context, with visibility, subsidies and also support for talent. Because ultimately, the major challenge will be to succeed in ensuring that people who today are recognized for the quality of their work in traditional mechanics can progress towards new professions. As you know, we are creating gigafactories which will build electric batteries throughout Hauts-de-France.

There are jobs that exist today, for example the Bosch factory in Rodez where diesel engines are manufactured. What can be done for these employees? ?

Bosch in Rodez is a good example. Both the challenge and the solutions. Bosch and the trade union organizations signed an agreement, which has just been extended by two years, in order to maintain employment until 2028 – and even beyond 2030 – of at least 500 employees. And until then, Bosch is committed to implementing substitution activities towards hydrogen or new technologies. They’re not there yet but I put a lot of pressure on Bosch this week to make sure an alternative would be found. In any case, here too, we gave perspective to the employees of Bosch and Rodez. And from this point of view, I salute the responsibility of the trade union organizations which signed this agreement so that we can support Bosch employees so that they too can be trained for the jobs of tomorrow.

Beyond this site, will we be able to support all these employees who today work on thermal vehicles in retraining or moving to other positions? ?

I can’t tell you that all the companies that are involved in the sector today will go through this transition without. But our absolute duty is that the employees do it. Today there are companies in this new sector that are growing. There are others who are in transition. There are others who, unfortunately, will face major challenges. But our absolute duty is to support all employees and I would even say to attract young and old people to these new sectors of the future. For example in Douvrin, Stellantis which is making an agreement which trains employees who made thermal engines for the gigafactory that we inaugurated, which will manufacture electric batteries. Of course it’s possible. I’m not going to tell you it’s easy, but it’s an imperative duty. The ecological transition must be done with everyone and by supporting everyone.