- Title: Renault-Nissan boosts French investment, Macron visits plant
- Date: 8th November 2018
- Summary: MAUBEUGE, FRANCE (NOVEMBER 8, 2018) (AGENCY POOL) (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRESIDENT, EMMANUEL MACRON, SAYING: "What's happening on this site? A commitment from a great French manufacturer and I'd like to thank him for it. Thank you for having announced a billion-euro investment in French sites today, and 450 million euros here in Maubeuge (MACRON INTERRUPTED BY A HECKLER AFTER REPEATED INTERRUPTIONS) No but now you're being ridiculous, sir, I'm sorry to have to tell you that. Either you have the courtesy to go on or you're going to have to leave because now you're being ridiculous. So 450 million euros here in Maubeuge which, as you said, is going to provide for 200 jobs, to go much further and that's thanks to a company, to a French manufacturer, and I thank you for it, and I thank the whole company for choosing France."
- Embargoed: 22nd November 2018 13:42
- Keywords: Renault investment in France Macron visiting Renault plant jobs investment economy Nissan
- Location: MAUBEUGE, FRANCE
- City: MAUBEUGE, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA00495N8EVB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: French President Emmanuel Macron toured a Renault factory in northern France on Thursday (November 8), on the sidelines of a memorial tour commemorating the World War One armistice.
Macron was welcomed by Renault Group CEO Carlos Ghosn, COO Thierry Bollore, and was joined by Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.
Ghosn announced that Renault Group is investing 1.4 billion euros in France to drive production of electric vehicles and utility vehicles, its two pillars of growth.
The Renault-Maubeuge factory, located in the industrial region of Hauts-de-France and the production centre for the Kangoo mini-van, will be receiving 450 million worth of investment over five years and will hire 200 more workers, Ghosn announced on Thursday.
Macron toured production lines on the factory floor, being presented innovations such as a robot that hands out auto-parts to workers, a tablet that allows supervisors to oversee their lines, smartphones that allow operators to signal production defects, and a warehouse drone that performs inventory.
Employing around 2,200 workers, the Maubeuge factory produced 164,240 vehicles in 2017.
Ghosn announced that the Maubeuge factory will be the hub for producing light utility vehicles for Renault-Nissan, including a new Nissan model NV250.
Congratulating Ghosn on his investment announcements, Macron was repeatedly heckled by a disgruntled worker. - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2018. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
