Car fitting

Renault and AvtoVAZ still hope to agree on cooperation

French Renault continues negotiations on cooperation with AvtoVAZ, but fears that it will not be able to satisfy all the needs of the Russian company. This is how the head of the Russian representative office of Renault, Jean-Michel Jalinier, commented on the relationship between the Russian and French automobile concerns at a press conference on Friday.

According to Mr. Jalinier, negotiations are now at the stage of exchanging information that will help determine ways of possible cooperation between companies in Russia. He did not say what specific proposals AvtoVAZ itself is putting forward, noting only that “they offer a lot of things, Renault will not be able to satisfy all their needs.” At the same time, he clarified that AvtoVAZ approached Renault with a proposal for cooperation. "I can't give further details," Mr. Jalinier said. At the same time, he emphasizes that the French company is interested, with the help of AvtoVAZ, “increasing its presence in the Russian market.”

AvtoVAZ confirms the fact of negotiations, recalling that they relate mainly to technical cooperation. “In particular, we continue to search for a partner to create new platforms,” a source at the enterprise told Vremya Novostey, “and are negotiating with a number of foreign companies on this issue, including Renault.”

Let us recall that at the beginning of summer information appeared on the market that Renault was interested in purchasing a large stake in VAZ. The French company did not confirm this information, and the chairman of the VAZ board of directors, Vladimir Artyakov, then expressed interest in a technical partnership with Renault, but rejected the possibility of selling a stake in the company’s authorized capital.

Renault is one of the technical leaders in the European automotive industry and is obviously interesting to VAZ as a partner. However, until VAZ at least streamlines its ownership structure (currently more than half of the shares are cross-owned by VAZ subsidiaries), there can be no talk of selling the stake. Renault is interested in expanding its presence. At the end of last year, the company sold about 30 thousand cars (seventh place among foreign cars) and occupied about 2% of the Russian automobile market. Mr. Jalinier promised that by 2010 Renault will increase sales in Russia to 100 thousand cars per year.

Anna LANDER