Renault CEO François Provost said that the French automaker won’t sell cars in China in the short term as the industry evolves. Instead, Renault will integrate into the Chinese supply chain to sell cars worldwide.
François Provost attended a media event with a lot of media during his first visit to China since becoming CEO in July 2025. He has a deep understanding of the Chinese market as he previously served as Chief Operating Officer for Renault in China and the Asia-Pacific region. Chinese media Late Post had a conversation with Renault CEO, revealing his plans for China.
Renault in China
François Provost shared that Renault won’t return to China to sell cars in the short term due to fierce competition and ongoing “lose-lose” price wars. The French automaker closed joint projects with Dongfeng and Brilliance in 2020. However, the top manager highlighted that Renault will deeply integrate into the Chinese supply chain.
According to the CEO, Renault is ready to invest sufficient funds to ensure product differentiation and retain tech brand assets even after deep integration into the Chinese ecosystem. Provost shared that a lot of Chinese companies are rapidly expanding worldwide to pursue higher profits. It means the French automaker should be ready to deal with an intensifying competition outside China.
One of the core partners of Renault in China is Geely. Provost shared that two companies have a compatible vision and cooperate in a win-win mode. CarNewsChina will remind you that Renault and Geely currently run the Horse Powertrain joint venture that has a production capacity of 5 million powertrain units per year. The two parties also jointly develop Renault-branded cars that are being manufactured in South Korea. At last, Renault & Geely established cooperation in Brazil.
According to Provost, Renault is finding ways to persuade more people to switch to electric cars in their core market, which is Europe. To do so, the French automaker actively explores range extenders and parallel plug-in hybrids. François admitted that Renault can quickly achieve the production and deployment of new energy vehicles with enhanced cost effectiveness by sharing Geely’s electrification technology.
It is worth highlighting that Renault established an R&D center in China in 2024. It follows a “local-for-global” strategy of developing overseas products with the benefits of the Chinese supply chain. The first successful example of this approach is the Renault Twingo project. François Provost concluded that China will play a key role in expanding Renault’s global market
Editor’s comment
Currently, we see an increasing number of global automotive companies beginning to collaborate with China. For example, Mercedes-Benz is collaborating with Geely on ADAS and powertrain technologies. Volkswagen is developing vehicles using Xpeng technologies. And Toyota is producing vehicles based on solutions from GAC and BYD.
Renault is no exception to this rule, also joining forces with Chinese companies. Geely has clearly become one of the French automaker’s main partners. Currently, the two companies’ cooperation is proving successful. However, it’s possible that in the future, Geely and Renault products will compete without clear coordination. In such a case, the companies’ relationship could cool, as happened with Renault and Nissan.
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