PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a 30 billion euro ($35 billion) plan to reverse years of industrial decline in the EU’s second-largest economy, including 4 billion euros for the transport sector to support electrified vehicles and other initiatives.
The plan presented Tuesday, called “France 2030,” would invest the money over five years in sectors including renewable energy sources, electric vehicles, semiconductors and robotics.
“I want us to look ahead and see our weaknesses and strengths,” Macron said in a speech at the Elysee Palace. “We need the country to produce more.”
Macron said the government would continue to support the automotive industry’s transition to electrification, and he set a domestic production target of 2 million full-electric and hybrid vehicles by 2030.
“We need an industrial response to the challenge of the new mode of transport,” he said, adding that it was important to produce low-emission vehicles in France if the country wanted to have a clean vehicle fleet.
Among recent initiatives, Renault has set up an electric-vehicle production hub in northern France, and Stellantis has a battery-cell joint venture with Total that aims to build a gigafactory in France.
“We need to focus on disruptive innovation technologies on new vehicles,” Macron said, citing three battery gigafactories planned for France.
The French government has been among the most generous in Europe in offering incentives for electric and hybrid vehicles. Under an 8 billion euro support measure put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, buyers could get more than 10,000 euros off the price of a new full-electric car.
France will also spend 6 billion euros to support electronics production and innovation, including semiconductors, Macron said.
Source: https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/frances-35b-industrial-revival-plan-sets-ev-production-target