The government of France is reportedly studying a plan for a merger between Stellantis and the Renault Group, wrote Car Expert citing a report by Il Messaggaro.
A perceived benefit from a combined Stellantis-Renault Group organisation is that the merged group would be large enough to counter the competition from Chinese as well as German automakers, according to the Australian news outlet.
In response to the initial report by the Rome-based newspaper, Stellantis chairman John Elkann has issued a statement to say that “there is no plan under consideration regarding merger operations with other manufacturers,” adding that Stellantis is focused on implementing its long-term business plan.
Elkann is also head of Exor, the Agnelli family-owned holding company that is the largest single shareholder in Stellantis, notes Reuters. The French government, through its historic investment in Peugeot-Citroen, own 6.1% of Stellantis shares, and controls 9.1% of the group’s voting stock. It also has a 15% stake in Renault, notes Car Expert.
The statement by Elkann comes in contrast to comments by Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, who was quoted by Bloomberg as noting that Renault had exited the Russian market, which is its second-largest after its native France, and its scope of cooperation with Nissan had been reduced, thus appearing vulnerable to mergers and acquisitions.
Meanwhile, the Renault Group has Renault, Alpine, Dacia and Mobilize under its banner, and is itself part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. Nissan announced last December that it will be buying back 5% of its shares from Renault, who will eventually reduce its stake in the Japanese carmaker to 15%.
The news wire notes speculation that a slowing of the electric vehicle market forced the Renault Group to cancel plans for an initial public offering (IPO) for its EV and software division, Ampere.
Stellantis is itself a product of a merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Groupe PSA, which was completed in January 2021, having first announced merger plans in 2019.
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That is nearly all of major Europe makes.