Groupe Renault and JMCG announced an agreement in electric vehicles in the fast-growing Chinese market, which represents 50% of the worldwide EV market today. Groupe Renault will take a significant part of JMEV, a subsidiary of JMCG and one of the main EV players in China. The stake purchase will enable Groupe Renault to increase its presence in China and further support JMEV development.

The agreement will be reviewed by relevant Chinese authorities in the first half of 2019. JMCG and Groupe Renault expect to close the transaction in 2019. At closing, the two companies intend to explain their cooperation in greater detail.

Since 2015 JMCG has successfully established the company JMEV in Nanchang, Jiangxi province. JMEV has produced and sold 38,000 electric cars in 2017. JMEV expects to sell 50,000 electric cars in 2018.

“JMEV, the future joint venture with JMCG is fully in line with Groupe Renault’s strategy, aimed at establishing a solid position in the growing and high-potential market of EV in China. JMEV is an important local actor. This project is also very complementary with Groupe Renault’s other activities in China,” François Provost, chairman of Asia Pacific Region, SVP, China Operations, Groupe Renault, said.

“Groupe Renault is a globally renowned automaker with leading electric vehicle business in Europe. JMEV’s cooperation with Groupe Renault therefore, will promote its future development that fits JMCG’s strategy,” said Wan Jianrong, general manager of JMCG.

Groupe Renault is a leader in EV in Europe: one out of four EV on European roads is a Renault. It has a presence in China through three joint ventures. In total, Groupe Renault is present in 134 countries, with 36 manufacturing sites and 12,700 sales outlets worldwide. Groupe Renault’s total vehicle sales in 2017 were 3.76 million units.

JMCG is a well-known automaker in China. In 2017, JMCG sold 438,000 units of vehicles and accomplished an annual operating revenue of CNY80.6 billion (USD11.7 billion). Facing the transformation of the global auto industry, and seizing the opportunities therein to grow bigger and stronger, JMCG launched its new energy vehicle strategy in 2014, followed by the establishment of JMEV in 2015. Today, its sales of new energy vehicles rank among the largest in China’s new energy vehicle industry.