Renault suffered a loss of billions in the first half of this year. This is mainly due to an adjustment of the stake in car manufacturer Nissan. Without Nissan’s loss, Renault would have made almost 500 million euros in profit.
The Japanese car manufacturer Nissan has been suffering losses for some time. That is why Renault is now valuing its stake in Nissan in a different way, the French company announced in June. Since then, Renault’s stake in the Japanese company has been aligned with Nissan’s share price. It concerns more than a third of the shares.
The share price of the Japanese car manufacturer has been falling for a long time. This is due to an expensive reorganization in which twenty thousand jobs will disappear and several factories will close. Nissan also suffers a lot from the American import duties of 25 percent. Imported Nissans have therefore become a quarter more expensive for Americans.
Renault estimates the impact of the decrease in value of Nissan at approximately 12 billion euros in the half-year figures. As a result, the French car manufacturer has a loss of more than 11.5 billion euros at the bottom line.
Without that decrease in value, the French car manufacturer would have recorded a profit of 461 million euros in the first half of this year. That is still lower compared to a year earlier, admits Renault CEO François Provost. At the time, the net profit was approximately 1.5 billion euros.
Renault’s turnover increased to 27.6 billion euros. That is 2.5 percent more than in the first half of 2024. The increase was mainly due to the sale of popular cars, such as the Dacia Bigster and Renault Symbioz, and the electric Renault 5.
However, like other car manufacturers, Renault is struggling with disappointing sales in Europe. There is less demand and more competition from Chinese electric cars. Renault says it is not much affected by American import duties, mainly because the company already sells few cars in the US.