Renault aims to avoid renationalization: chairman

PARIS (Reuters) – Renault may seek French government guarantees to bolster its finances in the face of the coronavirus crisis, but a renationalization of the carmaker is not being considered, Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard told Le Parisien newspaper.

“We may seek state guarantees like other companies,” Senard was quoted as saying by the French daily. Invoking the last global financial crisis, when Renault received a 3 billion euro ($3.2 billion) government loan, Senard said a renationalization was “not on the agenda” as things stand.

“Remember that in 2008-2009 we never got to that point,” he said, adding that orders for some models were currently down 90%.

(Reporting by Gwenaelle Barzic and Laurence Frost; Editing by Susan Fenton)