“In the car industry, size (of a single manufacturer, ed.) is a condition that remains necessary, but I'm not sure that today it is sufficient to be successful”: these are the precise words of Renault's number one, Luca De Meo, interviewed from the newspaper Le Figaro. Words identical to those of Marchionne from a few years ago: the manager of the then Fiat Group was the first to understand that without gigantic alliances a brand had no hope of surviving.
And now Luca De Meo (not surprisingly one of the “Marchionne boys at the time of the Fiat relaunch) now reveals his strategy: “In certain circumstances – explains the Italian supermanager at the helm of the historic French group – it is better to remain very agile and oriented towards innovation. This – he continues – works when demand is stable or weakly growing and when technologies are mature. Merging and focusing on common platforms to achieve economies of scale is relevant in that case. This is, for example, what was done between Chrysler and Fiat. But when demand is volatile and technologies are evolving, it pays to be very agile and innovation-oriented. This is what we did with Ampere”.
But that is not all. Then De Meo, in the historic interview with Figaro, goes further. And he also says he is convinced that “we need to make agreements with Chinese players, as we did with Geely and Envision for batteries, and ask ourselves what China can bring to Europe in the decarbonisation of transport. Perhaps there will be mergers with some business sectors.” The challenge is launched. In the name of his great master. Sergio Marchionne.
#Meo #Marchionne #FormulaPassion.it
