Renault SA (RNO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, and shareholders, we are delighted to welcome you to this very important annual event, our Annual General Meeting. It is always an opportunity for all of us to engage in a very fruitful and constructive dialogue. As you can see, I have by my side, Mr. Luca de Meo, the Group's Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Thierry Pieton, Chief Financial Officer; as well as Mrs. Quitterie De Pelleport, who is the Chief Legal Officer. We are also delighted to have the members of the Board of Directors, whom I greet here and the members of the Renault leadership team, whom I would also like to greet. We also have our statutory auditors and the 2 shareholder representatives, who will act as scrutineers. I would also like to draw your attention to the presence of a legal official representing the judiciary. I would now like to provide you with some legal information concerning this assembly. Notice of this Annual General Meeting was published in the official gazette as well as is in another legal gets on the 10th of April 2024. Registered shareholders, FCP unitholders and the statutory auditors were invited to attend either by post or by e-mail. Let me now turn to the composition of the Bureau of the AGM. In my capacity as Chairman of the Board of Directors, I will be chairing this meeting. The French state represented by Mr. Pierre Jeannin and the company Amundi represented by Mr. Frédéric Mazzella will act as scrutineers. And the position of the secretary assembly will be taken by Mrs. Quitterie De Pelleport. Now this bureau has been duly constituted and all legal documents have been deposited on the desk in accordance with the legal provisions that have been available to shareholders, since the AGM was convened. The officers of the meeting have acknowledged that these documents are in order. The notice of the meeting, including the agenda and the text of the resolutions, as well as all the documentation required for meeting were made available on the company's website. I have received confirmation that a meeting that today, we have more than 1/4 of the shares comprising the share capital and entitled to vote are present. And therefore, we may validly deliberate on both the ordinary and extraordinary resolutions on the agenda. The Secretary of the meeting will provide you with the final figures of those present just before the resolutions are put to the vote. Our meeting, let me warn you is being filmed and being broadcast on the Renault Group website. In a moment, I'll hand the floor over to Mr. Luca de Meo, who will talk about our groups performance and the way in which Renault is responding to the various revolutions ongoing in our industry. But before that, I'd like to share a few words with you. Ladies and gentlemen, I have now -- have the honor of being Chairman of Renault's Board of Directors for 5 years. And this gives me the hindsight to measure the strength that the company can draw from the patience and loyalty of its shareholders, whom I would like to thank more sincerely today here. I would also like to express my gratitude to the Board of Directors, whose work was particularly intense in 2023. Mr. Pierre Fleuriot, Lead Director, will have the opportunity to describe during this AGM in detail the work of the Board and its committees, which have been mobilized on a large number of strategic issues. But I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute once again this year to the relationship of trust and openness that exists between the management and the Board. This is obviously an essential condition for a company's performance. What makes me happy for today and confident about the future, is that your loyalty shareholders and your work dear members of the Board are today being rewarded with results that are not just exceptional, but also historic and they've been achieved in a context that is as uncertain as ever. And in an international environment that is as complex as it has ever been, but under the leadership of a remarkable CEO. So allow me to congratulate the Group's employees the architects of a performance that has exceeded all expectations. They deserve our recognition because they have been able to deploy the group's strategy and action plan and projects with immense talent and determination. Finally, I don't think you'll be surprised if I congratulate and express my deep gratitude to the leader of this performance. Luca, we have now been working together for 5 years. When we first met in '19 -- 2019, sorry, the company was going through a crisis of many dimensions: geopolitical crisis and economic crisis, social crisis and the crisis of confidence as well. This context did not scare you off. I would even say that it stimulated you. And you did join us. And all I can say is I'm so grateful for that fact today. Today, the Board of Directors decided unanimously to renew your term of office as CEO for the next 4 years. This renewal is a mark of our recognition of the work you've accomplished and our determination to continue the transformation of the Renault Group. Everyone here knows how attached I am to the idea that a company that is responsible must serve all of its stakeholders. While respecting a very subtle balance and systematically adopting both the medium-term stance and a long-term perspective. So I think the best way to understand the performance achieved by Luca and his teams is to analyze that in terms of its stakeholders in 2023. First of all, its employees, who have been taken on board this exciting adventure of inventing the sustainable mobility that will take us through tomorrow. They have especially benefited from a broader sharing of value through our ambitious employee share ownership scheme, but also from the impressive training dynamic set up within our own corporate university and all of this in a very constructive climate. So -- and all of this has been done, thanks to the quality of the labor dialogue, industrial dialogue with our social partners, which we are keen to preserve. And this is not something that I'm commenting on casually. Our shareholders whom you represent here are also reaping the benefits of the 2023 performance through the payment of a dividend, which is on a par but that of last year. I would also like to mention our valued dealers whom we feel are a strategic asset for the company and for its brands, and we are delighted that they have been benefited from the success of our value strategy. As for our customers in 2023, they voted with their wallets in favor of our new products and services. And the best is yet to come. Our customers applauded the recognition of Renault Scenic E-Tech when it was voted Car of the Year. And through their trust, they've helped our brands to progress throughout the world. Finally, one last word about our suppliers. We are aware of our obligations towards them. We know the difficult times they've been through. In 2023, we endeavored to work with them as partners. And in the wake of the industry contract we have just approved, we will continue to build this relationship so that it is mutually beneficial because we do share a real common destiny with them. Based on this excellent performance in 2023 for which I would like to thank you, Luca. And on behalf of all of our stakeholders, I would like to thank you because the Renault Group has never been better equipped to face the major challenges of our future. These challenges are many and they are far reaching actually. They are geopolitical and economic. How can we ensure a sustainable performance in the face of this energy supply in Europe that we will have to make sure becomes affordable? And in the face of access to raw materials and rare earths that are controlled by countries keen to make the most of their strategic advantage. We also have regulatory and technological challenges. How can we successfully prepare for the European deadline of 2035, while at the same time, trying to decarbonize the car industry? They are also ethical in human how can we speed up the training of our employees and the future skills we need, especially given artificial intelligence, while leaving no one by the wayside. If our group has never been so well equipped to take on these challenges as it is today, it's because it has rediscovered its genes, as an innovative company in perfect harmony with our corporate purpose to make the heart of innovation beat so that mobility can bring us all closer together. This corporate purpose is a compass, a metrics, which is being deployed and nurtured the talent by the teams at every level of the company. This innovation obviously concerns products and the services and the products that are invented by the company. But it also incarnates the way we work, in an agile ecosystem. Lastly, innovation also inspires our new organization, which was set up by Luca, which already now up and running. Now behind this new organization, there is one dimension that is very close to my heart, and that concerns empowerment. Working in close-lit teams that are focused on optimizing a value chain, electrical and software engineering, ICE engineering, the circular economy, all of this means harnessing the full power of agility and empowerment. And I'm so happy to see that this culture of empowerment is growing within the company, although we do still need to go further. By moving forward in this direction, our employees will be able to become even more involved and use their capacity for initiative. And managers will be able to support their teams to help them grow by creating the right conditions for trust, for confidence, which means, as you know, that anyone -- that people can take risks. This means that every employee must accept that empowerment means more autonomy and more freedom, but it also means more duties. It also means the acceptance of assessment and evaluation and the consequences of actions taken. Now in this context a very quick and profound transformation of our group, marked by our new organization and cooperation with several partners in different ecosystems, we need these 2 additional dimensions more than ever. The horizon of our purpose, this unifying cement that is shared by everyone and that produces collective meaning and empowerment that produces individual meaning for each employee. So, it is this link between our corporate purpose and accountability that our corporate purpose committee will be focusing on this year so that it can inform the thinking of our Board of Directors and the management, the arrival of new members who are imminent in their field of expertise alongside those who took part in the first cycle, will enrich the scope of analysis of the work of this committee, which provides us with valuable insights into our world of mobility. I would now like to turn to our alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors. In July 2023, we reached a key milestone by signing our new agreement which took effect in November. This is a major development that actually we will ask you to vote on when we start voting the resolutions. Celebrating 25 years of existence this alliance is unique. It's the only one to have lasted so long in the automotive industry. When it was founded in 1999, it invented a totally unique model that was developed and that evolved over the next 20 years. And then as you know, we hit the geopolitical and political crisis of 2018, 2019, and the alliance went through a very tough time. So we had to avoid the worst and we had to rebuild trying to reestablish this level of trust and confidence, which is a prerequisite for defining a new way of working. So with this new agreement, the nature of the alliance has changed, it is now based on concrete projects. It is based on balanced cross shareholdings and on our relationship that today has been made simple, easy to understand and transparent. It is positioned as a strategic lever to meet the challenges of the automotive sector and new forms of mobility. And above all, it is based today on a wide range of innovative projects. Let me remember -- let me remind you that today, 2/3 of the vehicles of the 3 companies on the road world-wide, are designed on common platforms. And this ratio is even higher in EV. So the Espace, Austral, Rafale for Renault, Qashqai, Rogue and X-Trail for Nissan and the Outlander for Mitsubishi Motors have all born on the same platform. For EVs, [ Renault's ] Megane and Scenic, Nissan's Ariya are also based on the same platform, which will be used for other key models in the very near future. The new organization of the Alliance also makes it possible for each partner to benefit from the initiatives and innovations of the other partners, that's Mitsubishi Motors has asked Renault and its teams to develop and produce its ASX and its Colt, which you've been seeing on our roads for several months now. Ampere, one of our new entities is now in the spotlight because Nissan has been entrusted to it, the development on the production of its Micra, which is now going to be an electric car. Mitsubishi Motors has also asked the Ampere to produce its first C-segment electric SUV. And both our partners also decided, as you know, to become shareholders and Ampere for significant amounts, therefore, demonstrating their confidence and their commitment. For Horse -- the Horse entity for [indiscernible] has sold more than 0.5 million mechanical components or rather [ Parking ] components to its Alliance partners in 2023. At the end of March we were in India with Luca and Nissan senior management, with a view to the future launch of 3 vehicles that we have been developed and produced jointly both for the Indian market and for export from India. And the enthusiasm of the Indian, French and Japanese teams was such a pleasure to behold. So ladies and gentlemen, our dear shareholders Renault Groups unprecedented turnaround is a story of women and men who rallied around proved that this fantastic company, born 120 years ago. And really an integral part of France has extraordinary resources. The results achieved in 2023 will enable us to invest in the future, while sharing value with our stakeholders. This is something that is a source of great satisfaction to us. And in the difficult and uncertain times that we are living in today, this is the best encouragement to continue and to accelerate because we are a manufacturer focused on sustainable performance, but also fully responsible and we are committed. Before I hand the floor to Luca, let's share a few images of a great group initiative, which illustrates the idea that the company is -- this company is even greater when it can reconcile performance and commitment by contributing to the common good. [Presentation]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Good afternoon, dear shareholders. Now in the life of companies and -- of course, in the life of those who work for them, there are certain years that are as densely packed as a decade. And since Jean-Dominique says, 5 years together, but actually, it's been less than 4 years. So maybe I'm making the time drag for you. I don't know or maybe it's just that we've been doing so much that we thought it could take longer. So this -- so and as Jean-Dominique says, this is what happens when you're close to a catastrophe and then you manage to jump back, like in the last 3.5, 4 years that we spent together because our industry is reinventing itself at breakneck speed in a country -- in a world, sorry, where everything is changing before our very eyes. I've always thought that it was during these times that we would be able to make a difference. And that is why I came back. That's why I believe in what we've done. And so it's with the men and women of Renault that we've managed to make a difference. And today, as we look together at what has happened during these years of incredible transformation and challenge, I really think of Renault employees first and foremost. And in fact, I'd like to propose that we give them a very warm hand for everything that they've achieved over the last 4 years. Thank you very much for that. So we all know that, of course, the automotive industry is, first and foremost, is teams -- a teams sport. So I'd like to thank our partners, our suppliers, our dealers, and our customers. Obviously, just like Jean- Dominique did because really, at the end of the day, everything really depends on our customers who buy our cars. And of course, thank you, dear shareholders, for your confidence, even when we have had to go through such difficult times together. Finally, I would also like to express my profound gratitude to all the members of the Board of Directors and especially to Jean-Dominique. And as you have just said, Jean-Dominique, the quality of the relationship that we've had, you and I, has really been a decisive driving force, over the past 4 years. Now before going back over these last 1,000 days in detail, let me take you through them again in pictures. [Presentation]

We knew we needed a new storyline with a new direction, with a new direction. First phase is Resurrection running from 2020 to 2023. It will be clearly about cost reduction, margin, and cash generation. It will be moving our focus from volume to value. To the upgrade and automatization of our plans in the last decade will allow us to have a lean and high-performance operational system on the industrial side. So this modernized lean organization will allow us to reduce by a whole year, our car development time from concept fees to start of production. Second phase called Renovation spanning from 2023 to 2025. This is when we will benefit from a completely new and revamped lineup, electric and electrified centered on larger profit pools and allowing us to finally leverage a portfolio of strong and differentiated brands. Dacia will stay Dacia. The Renault brand will embody modernity. Alpine to become our tool to play automotive around that. Mobilize goes beyond into the field of data, mobility, and energy services. And then third phase is Revolution. From 2025 onwards, traditional OEMs will have to jump on the value chain of new mobility. We will be able to develop profitable EVs at the price of combustion engine-powered models by enlarging and converting 1 of our plants into the biggest EV factory in Europe -- will also offer market-ready end-to-end hydrogen solutions for LCVs. We are engaging in the future, playing the leaders game when it comes to energy transition. We have a clear advantage when it comes to second life and end of life of batteries. But we will do it in the [Renault ], meaning in the full respect of the expectation from the different stakeholders, especially our workforces. I would like to take the chance to underline that this plan is not just a wish list. It is the sum of actions we have already decided and organized putting the company in a better shape, it's never been before. So much has happened, so many memories. So 4 years ago, as you know, Renault was going through what [indiscernible] called dark chapter, one of the most deepest crisis in its history. Thank heavens. All of this is now behind us. It's actually easy to forget where the company was just a few years ago. You mustn't forget that in 2020, we were losing thousands of millions of euros every week, EUR 8 billion for the whole year and then we had 0 for the second half year H2. And then we were losing EUR 22 million a day, including weekends and public holidays. So the group was going through a crisis of governance. We didn't have new products to kick start our business and the most serious problem that I saw when I joined the company was undoubtedly the fact that the teams had lost confidence and they were not motivated, which is really not the case at all today. And this is why I wanted Renault to be the one to turn Renault around. And so it was a people -- it was Renault employees who came up with the Renaulution plan. And you may remember that the plan was broken up into 3 phases, resurrection, renovation, and revolution. Now with resurrection. I think we did -- we really carried out a structural job on performance. We reduced fixed costs by around EUR 3 billion, that is about 25% -- we actually reduced the breakeven point in 3 years by half, this is something Renault had never achieved before. And we halved our development time. So what it would cost us to develop one car in the past, we use that same budget to date to develop two cars. And we are going to continue to strengthen this discipline. But one thing is very clear. This company is no longer playing in the same playing field that it was in 4 years ago. And as you know, we have managed to do all of this in an environment that's worse than anything that had hit us in decades. Inflation, at least two waves of COVID, all of the challenges facing global supply chains. And then, of course, there was a crisis in Russia, you may remember, the group was badly exposed in Russia. And you may remember that we were -- we read in the newspaper that this was probably one crisis too many for Renault. And everyone thought we were dying and actually be managed to not only offset the shock, but even do better after just 6 months. And today, we have taken the company to a level of performance that it has had never seen in one century because in 2023, we had a margin of 7.9%. In 2020, we were at minus 1%. And we managed to generate that margin with 1 million fewer cars because we gave up on nonprofitable sales. What's very important also is that last year, we generated EUR 3 billion in cash, and that was EUR 6 billion over 3 years. And in the 10 years preceding the Renaulution, we generated less than EUR 1 billion a year on average. We have also significantly improved the quality of our capital allocation. We started from a return on capital invested of 0, and this should really reassure all of you who give us your money. In 2023, we will -- we almost achieved the 30% target that we set ourselves for 2025. So of course, now these results are starting to show up in our share price. I'm sure you can check it out every day. Although, of course, we still have a long way to go. We are convinced of that. But -- since the beginning of this year, we have posted the best performance of all shares on the CAC40. And what makes me particularly proud and happy is that we share the value that we create with all those who contribute to it. So with you, obviously, our shareholders. And later today, we were after 3 years finally be proposing that we can -- you can vote in favor of a dividend of EUR 1.85, per share, which is an increase of EUR 1.60 on last year. We also share value with our employees through one of the most ambitious employee share ownership plans France. And 100,000 Renault employees already owned Renault shares. And our ambition is to increase their stake to 10% of the company's capital by 2030. Now these historic results were achieved when we were experiencing a low point in our product cycle. And now with the second phase of the Renaulution plan, renovation, the idea was to put the product back at the center of the company, and that is really what's happening now. We've prepared the best range from this company in 30 years, and they're all coming in now. The result is 22 launches that places us at the heart of the European market. Over 50% of these new cars will be either in the C-segment or above, 50% pure battery EVs and almost 90% of the Renaulution range will be either electric cars or electrified cars, that is hybrid cars. This year really is a fantastic firework display with this product offensive with 10 launches. And once again, this is something that the company never did, has never managed to in the past. There is, of course, the Renault5, which is the return of an icon to democratize electric cars in Europe with Scenic. We have one of the very first family cars designed for the core of the European market, then you have the new Master with the very best fuel consumption figures for both electric and ICE engines. And in addition to this, we're also continuing to develop our hybrid range to support our global ambitions with Rafale. This will be the first time that we have had a solid robust proposition at this level of the market. Then we'll have the Symbioz, a sort of family SUV kind of family, Swiss Army Knife. And then we have 2 other international launches with the kardian and a new large hybrid SUV for international markets. For Dacia, Denis I'm looking at you. We're renewing the spring, and we've got the third generation of Duster, which is the most popular SUV in Europe. And finally, -- we are starting the all-new Alpine adventure with the launch of the A290. Let's take a look at this Renaulution lineup in pictures. [Presentation]

And this is just for this year, we haven't shown you everything that awaits in the years to come. We are still working on 2025, '26 and '27. But what we have done is we've rekindled up passion and love for cars. And we've actually gone further than that because as a result of all of this work we've put in every vehicle now has the financials that are totally different from what they were before. We've increased the average net income and margin profit per car by an average of 45%, compared with 2020. And this means that we have a record historic level of margin per vehicle. And in some cases, we've even managed to improve profitability while lowering prices for our customers, thanks to the work we've done on costs. And thanks to this, this actually -- the work we've done on cost is really beginning to show an impact in spite of the fact that inflation has now once again become structural, unfortunately. We've also structured a very coherent portfolio of brands with each of which has a clearly defined territory. And I think that the results have already showed up. So finally -- first of all, we've restored Renault to its rightful place in Europe. It's moved up from fifth to second place in Europe. And of course, it is as it should be #1 in France. Dacia has -- is now one of the top 10 brands in Europe, and that's historic ones again. And it's #2, in terms of sales to retail customers. Dacia really is one of the jewels in Renault Group's Crown, with a double-digit operating margin today and a target of achieving 15% by 2030. And since 2020, we've also managed because we worked really hard on Alpine and so we -- although we've only got one product right now, but we still managed to multiply the sales of Alpine by factor of 3. Of course, the A110 is now at the end of its life cycle. So managing to do that is really quite phenomenal. And we've paved the way for Alpine's future by bringing it back to the very heart of motor sport, which is Formula 1. And you can see the results today. we've had the team totally focused on Alpine. And it's one of the most highly valued brands in France, one that is growing very fast. EUR 700 million, 6x more than it was worth in 2020. And the chassis part, which is in the F1 team's offices in Enstone is valued at over $900 million. So of course, as you all know, Alpine's year in Formula 1 has been tough this year, but it's been a very, very rewarding learning experience. And we are in the process of recalibrating the machine for the rest of the risk because we are not here just to make up the numbers from it. Our clear objective is to win, and we do have high hopes for the endurance races at a Le Mans next month, and you will see our hypercar there, next month. I'll come back later to our ambitions for Alpine. But I also told you that with Renaulution, and this is really important for us. We've reconnected Renault with its roots, and this was important for all of the staff as well. So over the last few years, we have brought solutions to our customers. We've all -- for the activity in Cléon, we've put in electric motors there. We've also relaunched Dieppe with the Alpine. We found solutions for Douai, Ruitz, Maubeuge with ElectriCity and Ampere. We've got the refractory in Flins. Batilly is going to get the new master. Le Mans will benefit from all of these assignments in France, and we recently brought this full circle with the assignment of the Flex E Van, a family of next-generation electric LCVs to Sandouville. And these are just a few examples. We are so proud to have found innovative and structural solutions for all of the group's plants and sites in France. And if you look at all of these projects, taken together, they really represent a very strong and renewed commitment to France. If you want to speak in figures. This is actually EUR 80 billion of contribution from Renault to the national GDP in 2030. And production in France that is going to double in 2030 compared to what we had in 2019. Last but not least, we've also put Renault back at the heart of the French innovation ecosystem with -- with the software Republique. Now consolidating these routes really give Renault the strength that we needed to set out again to conquer the world. And this is what is happening with our international product plan today that the Renault brand unveiled at the end of last year with Fabrice Cambolive, EUR 3 billion of investments, 8 new models, including 5 in C and D segments and sales per unit, which will be doubled by 2027. We are setting up 5 hubs in Latin America, in Korea, in India, in Turkey and in Morocco. And each time, the aim is to produce for the local market, but also to be an export base for the region of these countries and even beyond that region, if it's possible. And every time we work in partnership with the very best. For example, in Korea, we have a partnership with Geely. And I think this was the best solution we could have imagined for the interests of Renault in Korea. Now with resurrection and renovation, we have put Renault as you heard already from Jean-Dominique, we've put Renault back at the top -- the top level of the automotive industry and at the top level it's ever been in its history. And we were able to convince ourselves that we had a very skilled, very competent, very united and a very courageous management team. And for us, that was just the beginning because the automotive industry is going through a transformation that is deeper than anything it's experienced in the last 150 years. So we really had a vital need of acceleration. But the good news is that no one has a stronger appetite than anyone than someone who's come close to death and has just been lead out of the hospital. So that's what we needed to launch revolution to make Renault a car company of the coming generations. And that's what really, we've been working on for the last 2 years. The idea is quite a simple one. For 125 years, carmakers had to play in just one sport around the value chain of ICE vehicles. Today, new value chains are emerging, are growing. Electric cars, software, new mobilities, the circular economy. And all of these are new sports and they're completely different. So the most logical thing to do, obviously, is to ensure that you have teams that are specialized in each of these sports rather than asking everyone to do a little bit of everything. And that's why we've created compact teams of dedicated specialists Ampere, Alpine, mobilize and the Future Is NEUTRAL. And of course, let's not forget our traditional [indiscernible], our traditional business, which is power and which looks after the ICE cars, and it's the trunk on which the other branches grow. So ICE cars are not dead, but they need to be reinvented in order to win the decarbonization race. So we know that depending on the energy mix, efficient ICE engines can often be can limit less carbon than electric vehicles, if you look at the whole life cycle of the vehicle from cradle-to-grave. And actually, you can go even further than that if you innovate. And this is why we wanted to put ourselves back in a position to reinvent ICE technologies by aiming for solutions with ultra-low emissions where synthetic or e-fuels or other kinds of -- or hydrogen. So now -- that's why we have Horse and it's a champion in the supply of ICE power units. By joining forces with Geely -- sales of EUR 15 billion worth in 130 countries, we will have the scale we need -- so that we can decarbonize combustion technologies. So the group's ICE activities will continue to generate very positive and growing results over the years to come. Now for the electricity for EVs and for software, we have Ampere. It's the very first pure player to emerge from the disruption of traditional carmaker to seek out opportunities in this new sport. Where everything is so different from the management of supply chain to development cycles, to design, customer interaction and the very central role played by software technologies. So, everyone is still talking about EVs, but you can't really have in EV without software. So Ampere is this newer fleet, new generation athlete who is 100% focused on this new discipline, which is an intelligent EV. That's why for us, -- we have added a small eye before EV to ensure that they are intelligent EVs. Ampere's job is to design, produce, and market Renault's electric vehicles to project this brand into the future. But not only that because Ampere is also a platform whose location would be to serve other carmakers. We sized it to win the race towards price parity between EVs and ICE vehicles. And in fact, it is the European industry's fullest and most substantial response to the new competition that is now coming in both from the East and the West. Ampere, it has now been up and running for almost 6 months from the first of November last year. And it's already showing the first signs of success. Now for the last 18 years, Renault had not won Car of the Year. And now we did it with the Scenic and this is a car that came out of Ampere, at the Geneva Motor Show, the presentation of the R5 exceeded all our expectations with 75,000 customers that have already put their names down on the waiting list. This car was absolutely unanimously praised and welcomed by the press, by experts, by financial analysts as well as our customers. We've also announced the Twingo, which we're going to be producing in 2 years and with which we aim to bring Europeans on board with the solution from urban mobility that is affordable and competitive. That's also a car that's going to be made by Ampere. Finally, our ambition to reduce cost by 40% by 2027 or 2028, is already bearing fruit. We can see this in our current range with reductions in cost and price without any reduction in margins. So the machine is now up and running. With the spirit of agility and entrepreneurship that we have adopted. And we are more than ever on our way to achieving the very high ambitions that we announced right at the start, a complete lineup of 7 vehicles in one of Europe's fastest-growing markets. Ampere will break even from next year, and it will boost a double-digit margin in 2030. We've also created Mobilize. The idea with Mobilize is to develop our activities in order to capture value in the world of leasing and charging infrastructure and management of energy beyond what we do traditionally with our brands, as you know. So in other words, Mobilize is a new kind of car brand, which is designed to go from service to the product and not the other way around. We also have TFIN, The Future Is Neutral. It is the very first 360-degree circular economy platform for the automotive industry. Our ambition is to cover the entire circular economy value chain moving from 50% to 90% coverage by 2030 with a scope of activity that will be doubled, compared to 2021 and once again, double-digit profitability. Now to control, the value chain of reconversion and recycling, we are forging partnerships with leaders in infrastructure and in chemicals. One of our ambitions is to develop a project for the recycling of batteries in the short loop. And of course, there's Alpine, we reinvented -- invented it, giving it the opportunity, the first -- for the first time to become a global brand for sports car enthusiasts like me, like all of you, surely. So the A110 is not going to be on its own for much longer because the rest of the story is coming with a complete lineup of 100% electric and maybe potentially hydrogen engine cars. And Alpine is on track to become a global brand with a target of 50% of volumes outside Europe by 2030. And we are going to achieve all of this with a mix of our own assets, with our partners and especially with the new platform that is dedicated to Alpine with its own technologies. This is what we call the APP, the Alliance Performance Platform, and it is designed to bring motion, likeness, and agility to the world of electric cars. And finally, I'd like to talk about something that isn't really too visible from the outside, but which is likely to be one of the most revolutionary things that we've ever done. At the level of the Renault Group, we are creating a digital twin of the entire company, we are the very first to do this in our sector. And by 2025, 2026, all of Renault is going to be on the cloud. In concrete terms, we are developing through strategic partnerships, 6 digital platforms that will manage the 6 of the company's major processes from development through to sales and finance. And we are connecting these 6 platforms up in order to break down silos to harmonize data so that it can flow seamlessly throughout the group and to ensure that we can make much quicker decisions and so that we can also gain in productivity and simplicity. This digitization of the company also opens up incredible prospects on the application of AI to increase our ability to anticipate and adapt in an environment that is changing so fast. A very concrete example of this is our industrial metaverse with already 13,000 machines that are connected up and also 3 billion bits of data collected every day. This is what underpins our ambition to reduce our energy consumption per vehicle, produced by 30% by 2025 compared to 2021. So we have this program that we call AI at scale through the deployment of a dozen projects on priority uses of AI. This could help us to generate this year about EUR 150 million and obviously, hopefully, even more in the years to come. For example, in addition to the prediction of energy consumption or the automation of vision controls in our plants. Now in addition to the idea of specializing our team, there's also a second principle at the heart of our revolution, which is the choice of a horizontal and ecosystem-based approach in mature technologies and stable markets -- scale and efficiency were the mantra on everyone's lips. When technology becomes evolutionary and demand becomes volatile as it is today, we've got to have a different approach. And we have to put agility and innovation at the very heart of the system, and that is what the horizontal approach is all about. We partner with the very best with those who have the chance of finding just the right technology. We're not going to delegate innovation nor are we going to pretend that we can do everything just by ourselves. What we are doing is to codevelop. And this will make it possible for us to derisk to maintain technological agility to maintain our options, to share investments and to expose our teams to the most innovative organizations across the whole value chain, so we are going to learn from our partners every day. So making Renault a company -- a next-generation company, therefore meant making it an open company. And over the last 4 years, we have signed 20 strategic partnerships, and we work with the very best, from Google, CATL for batteries, Qualcomm and Geely and many, many others. This network of partnerships is already, in my opinion, a unique resource for the group. And we are going to continue to weave our web. Let me give you a good example of this. It's Flexis. Our partnership with Volvo and CMA CGM. With Flexis, we've created what we call the FlexEVan, it's going to be a family of revolutionary products to meet the challenges of electrification for professionals and to reduce the impact of urban mobility. FlexEVan will be the very first software-defined vehicle of the Renault Group. It's a bit like the Tesla of commercial vehicles. And thanks to its connectivity and thanks to the platform that offers its offer exceptional agility and modularity, we are aiming to reduce the total cost of ownership by up to 30%. In other words, this is equivalent to the purchase price of the vehicle that we are putting back into our customers pocket over the life of this vehicle. And with Flexis, we are putting ourselves in the right position to revolutionize last mile delivery, and we are building end-to-end logistics solutions that go beyond simple cars. We are seizing the opportunity offered by a market for electric commercial vehicles that is set to grow by 40% a year between now and 2030. I'd also like to mention, like Jean-Dominique did, because I think it's really important all the work that we've done around the reinvention of the Alliance based on a very pragmatic approach based on strategic agility with operational projects, concrete projects, as you heard from Jean-Dominique, that each partner can join, not because they have to, but because it makes sense for them in business terms. So the comments that you may hear here or there should not detract from the vital point. We are doing exactly what we said we would do. So on the one hand, we are rebalancing our shareholdings between Nissan and Renault. And on the other hand, we are activating concrete projects just we've done -- as we've done in India, as Jean-Dominique said, or as we agreed with the Micra here. So with it, it will be the very -- so the Micra actually is going to be -- it's going to be the very first Nissan to be produced in a Renault plant in the last 10 years. And this time, the decision will have been taken based totally on business reasons and not for political or strategic reasons. We are also in the process of making Renault the most committed carmaker to ensuring that future mobility is driven by fair innovation, which forgets neither the environment nor our customers nor our employees. And I'm really proud of this. We are -- we have now entered the ESG CAC 40 list, and we are now the #1 carmaker in Moody's Analytics ESG ranking. We have reduced the group's overall carbon footprint by 28% between 2010 and 2023. We were the only ones to do it. And this is a result of more than a decade of investment and work that we're accelerating now. And so this means we are well on the way to achieving carbon neutrality by 2040 in Europe. And by 2050, worldwide. The group's teams are fully committed to this path of decarbonization. On the industrial scope, the group plans to reduce its emissions by 50% by 2025 and by 80% by 2030 compared to 2019. And this, of course, means reducing energy consumption on our sites. So 30% less per vehicle produced in 2025 compared to 2021. It also involves renewable energy supply contracts. We are aiming for 80% renewable electricity for our sites by 2030. Now on the upstream side, we remain for a 30% reduction in our material footprint and a 35% reduction for battery production footprint by 2030. And on the downstream side, our objective is to reduce emissions at the point of views by 20% by 2025 and 35% by 2030. And this, of course, is based on the electrification of our range. And at the same time, our transformation into a next-gen automotive company is gathering pace. I believe that we -- all of our strategy is headed in the same direction. TFIN helps -- so the future is neutral rather helps us to increase the amount of recycled materials in our vehicles. Ampere will have a carbon-neutral industry by 2025. So by 2025, the ElectriCity board will be carbon neutral and Mobilize is innovating in the use of batteries, after their first life. So we are making Renault into an increasingly inclusive company, involving everyone in the automotive transition. Our Renault University is developing a transformation program for skills towards the professions of the new value chain of mobility. And I think that, that is unique in Europe. We're talking -- so this goes beyond the group, you talk about 25,000 people that have been trained since 2021. And this has gone beyond the aim we had. And now our objective is to have trained 35,000 people by the end of 2025, including 5,000 people outside the group. So that would be for our suppliers. We are also making progress on equality and diversity. Since the start of the Renaulution, more than 50% of our strategic hires have been women. And what also makes us very proud is the reduction to 0 of the gender pay gap that we finally achieved last year in 2023, and we achieved it 2 years ahead of schedule. Finally, with OneHealth, we are setting up a global health program. We are setting up a global health program for group employees with the aim of giving them access to the best services with their families. And this is in the same tradition of Renault, as social laboratory, but we brought it up to date now. And I think we can say that we've led the Renaulution with flying colors. If you just count the list of structuring initiatives we've undertaken, there's been over 150 projects initiated in the very first 1,000 days of the Renaulution. That's practically one new project a week. And we are still accelerating because in the current transition, one of the key elements is going to be speed of execution. And this is why we have just launched a new project called the Speed of Lightness. It's not the speed of light but the Speed of Lightness. And this is a specific program to increase the speed of execution by a factor of 2 or 3 in 10 or so of the company's key processes. And it's happening now. The best example of is the New Twingo because we will have developed it in just 2 years. And it's the kind of thing that -- it normally took this industry, 3 to 5 years to do. And we are going to make it in less than 24 months. So this is not something you can just decide on when you wake up one morning. It means completely reengineering our whole system and the system of our suppliers as well. But of course, it's something we have to do since we're going to be faced with competition from Tesla and Chinese carmakers. So today, Renault is approaching the future from a position of renewed strength. And of course, leadership is a huge responsibility. And it is to this responsibility that I address this letter that I published, the open level that I published in Europe in March, because we want Renault to be across -- driving force in a process that can only be collective because the issues do not concern just our sector. So I'm going to give you a short presentation of this letter. [Presentation]

The interpreters apologize, but that was very, very fast impossible to translate. So, ladies and gentlemen, and my dear shareholders, my dear members of the Board of Directors, I would once again like to thank you for confidence that you have had in me over the last 4 years. The future has to be prepared from today, and I think we're very well placed to know that it was not going to be a walk in the park either. It's our ability to anticipate the upcoming economic shifts and therefore, to reinvent our industry, that will really make the difference. And I can tell you that we've already got a few surprises in store. So that Renault can capture value from new activities that are adjacent to and connected to the automotive industry. I think we are going to be able to put -- to give ourselves the right advantages to ensure the company's continued success for decades to come. And I'd like to hand over to Thierry Pieton who is our very dear Chief Financial Officer, and he is dear, but he's also famous. Thierry, you have the floor.

I'm not sure how all this will end Well, thank you, Luca. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm really delighted to be here with you to discuss the financial performance of 2023 and look at sales trends and the latest development in the first quarter of 2024. As Jean-Dominique and Luca pointed out 2023 was a record year. Renault Group published historic results with each of its financial indicators showing strong improvement. We -- we recorded profitability and cash generation levels above the initially announced, our fully revised outlook and beyond market expectations as well. These results are the fruit of a huge collective efforts. The demonstrated success, of course, of our cars, but also the effectiveness of our value-driven sales policy and the reduction of our breakeven point by over 50%. Starting with sales. In 2023, Renault Group sold 2.2 million vehicles, up 9% compared to 2022. The 3 brands, Renault, Dacia and Alpine all contributed to the increase. In addition to the effects of our -- so commercial policy, I mentioned, we're benefiting from the initial results of our product offensive, especially in the seen and high segments on these segments. Group sales were up 26% over the period in Europe, reaching over 660,000 units. And this accounted for about 42% of sales at end of 2023, and this confirms success in these profitable segments, both for the Renault and the Dacia brand. And the Renault brand sold 1.5 million vehicles in 2023, up 9.4%, making it the best-selling French brand in the world and positions it in the second position in Europe for both private cars and LCVs at the end 2023. The brand maintained its sales volume to private customers at an optimum level accounting for more than 1/3 of -- more than 1 in 2 vehicles in 2023. It also made significant progress in Europe in LCVs, including pickups, with the growth of over 25%, taking it to the first position in this market. Dacia sales were also up 14.7% over the same period. With more than 658,000 vehicles sold, the brand's 4 flagship brands Sandero, Duster Jogger and Spring, all contributed to this increase in 2 of them among the best-selling passenger cars in Europe. Alpine achieved a new sales record with over 4,300 vehicles sold, up 22% compared with 2022 and that brand was particularly driven by the success of limited editions of the A110. And then finally, we started 2024 with a very healthy inventory position below 500,000 units and an order book at 2.5 months of it again, reflecting the success of our products. Sales revenue -- group revenues were up 13.1% in 2023, reaching EUR 52.4 billion at constant exchange rates. So it would have been up 17.9%. Automotive sales were up 11.7% to reach EUR 48.2 billion. This mainly benefited from price and product mix effects over -- of over 8 points. And this is essentially due to the group's value-oriented sales policy, which I already mentioned, but also price increases to offset inflation and the success of new launches, such as Austral and the hybrid S-Pass E-Tech hybrid model. So in the above mentioned 9.4% increase in registrations was partially offset by lower dealer restocking than at the end of 2022, resulting in a 4-point volume effect on sales. Mobility services contributed to group sales to EUR 245 million in [ 2024 ] compared with EUR 235 million the previous years. And then finally, our financial captive bank, Mobilized Financial Services generated revenues of EUR 4.2 billion, up almost 32%. This was mainly due to higher interest rates, but also an increase in the average amount financed per vehicle and also the growth of the total number of cars with a financial package. And let's look at our operating margin. This was up over 60% in 2023, reaching EUR 4.1 billion or 7.9% of revenue, up 2.4 percentage points compared to 2022. I should note that the group's operating margin includes EUR 482 million positive impact from Horse due to the restating of Horse assets as assets head for sales. And so the cessation of the depreciation rules. The improvement in performance was driven by significant growth in the Automotive segment's operating margin, which more than doubled, compared with 2022 to EUR 3.1 billion or 6.3% of sales. Our financing business, which is Mobilized Financial Services contributed EUR 1.1 billion to the group's operating margin. If you look at this chart, the numbers speak for themselves. They show they demonstrate the speed and robustness of our transformation plan over the past 3 years. The operating profit of 7.9% of sales for 2023 is a new record for the group. It reached 7.6% of sales in the first half and even improved further in the second half, reaching in 8.1% in H2. And we keep closing the gap with our best competitors by focusing on improving our performance. Let's look now at our income statement, the other operating income and expenses amounted to minus EUR 1.6 billion in 2022. And this is due essentially to 4 factors: number one, there was a capital loss to the tune of EUR 0.9 billion on the disposal of Nissan shares, but this had no cash impact. Second, restructuring costs to the tune of EUR 0.4 billion. Thirdly, EUR 0.5 billion in write-downs on production assets and vehicle development. And these 3 effects were partially offset by asset disposals worth EUR 0.3 billion. Net financial expense amounted to EUR 527 million in 2023. The change compared with 2022 is explained essentially by hyperinflation in Argentina, which is partially offset by the positive effects of higher interest rates on our net cash position, which itself has significantly improved. Contribution of associates, the group -- to group earnings amounted to EUR 880 million in 2023, up EUR 457 million. Nissan alone contributed EUR 797 million in 2023, compared with EUR 526 million in 2022. Income tax was EUR 523 million. This is in line with 2022. The effects of the increase in pretax income related to improvement in operating margin was offset by a change in deferred taxes. As a result, the group's net income was up EUR 3 billion, reaching EUR 2.3 billion in 2023. You have to remember that back in 2022. Net income from discontinued operations amounted to minus EUR 2.3 billion due to the noncash adjustment charge linked to the disposal you may remember of Russian manufacturing activities. In 2023, our group generated a new record of operating free cash flow from the automotive division amounting to more than EUR 3 billion compared with EUR 2.1 billion in 2022. And this sharp rise was essentially due to the significant improvement in automotive margins and to a lesser degree, due to the positive change in the working capital requirements of EUR 637 million, and that was mainly a result of lower inventories. This record performance is all the more remarkable as it was achieved with only 2.2 million vehicles sold over the full year, while financing our Ampere new business. Operating a record level of operating free cash flow together with the disposal of 24% stake in Alpine Racing Limited and the positive effect of the of the disposal of Nissan shares. All this made -- contributed to improve our net financial position, automotive net financial position, which improved to reach EUR 3.7 billion in 2023, compared with 3 points. An improvement of almost EUR 3.2 billion compared with 2022. Regarding the liquidity results, they remain very comfortable in '22 and 2023, EUR 17.8 billion in 2023, we repaid EUR 1.2 billion in bonds. And in the first half of the year, we prepaid the balance of the loan guaranteed by the French government -- the French guaranteed loan. As you know, most agencies covering us have raised their rating or the outlook for Renault in 2023 as recently as last week. Moody's, Moody's raised its outlook on this financial rating from stable to positive. So we are, therefore, progressing towards our priority, which is to return to an investment-grade rating. In this context, our dividend policy is clear. We intend to increase our dividend gradually with the aim of achieving a payout ratio of 35% of net income group share, soon of course, as we are once again rated investment grade by the rating agencies. And so we're therefore, asking them to approve the payment of a dividend of EUR 1.85 per share for the financial year 2023. This is a significant increase on last year, this -- the payout ratio stands now at 17.5%. Over and beyond the increased dividend, Renault's share price performance is also a clear sign of its improved performance. And indeed, since January 1, 2023, we've significantly outperformed our 2 benchmark indices, CAC 40 and Auto Stocks, which include the 10 largest European automakers and automotive supply. Since the beginning of 2024, the Renault share has posted the strongest performance in the CAC 40. Now rest assured that we are 100% focused on continuing to improve the group's operating and cash generation performance. This strong growth potential is now being recognized by financial analysts who monitor our share, 71% of whom have a buy recommendation on that stock. If -- let's move on to the year 2024, this year to look at the outlook and sales for the first quarter. We registered 549,000 vehicles in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 2.6% compared with Q1 2023. The Renault brand sold more than 365,000 vehicles, up 3.1%. While Dacia recorded 3.2% with over 177,000 cars, sold. And in Europe, in particular, the group was able to maintain its volume growth, thanks to the dynamism of these 3 brands with 391,000 vehicles sold up 4.3%. In Europe, group sales rose by 1.8% in the first quarter of 2024, to reach EUR 11.7 billion on a constant exchange rate base sales were up 5.9%. Our order book in Europe still represents 2.5 months of future sales. This reflects the success of our models in a very good year -- very good start of the year, rather, in terms of order intake, even before we begin benefiting from the 10 launches that are to take place between now and the end of the year. But we have a conclusion, let's look at our financial outlook performance in Q1 reinforces our confidence and determination to achieve, not in our financial targets for this year, but also for the medium term. We, therefore, confirm our financial outlook for 2024, with group operating margin above 7.5% and operating free cash flow of at least EUR 2.5 billion. Product offensive and the acceleration of our cost reduction strategy, we'll continue to strengthen our operating performance underpin our ability to generate cash flow in 2024. Thank you so much for your attention. I would like to call Mr. Bertrand Pruvost from KPMG to present a summary of the strategy auditor's reports. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pieton. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the strategy auditors, KPMG and Mazars, I would like to present a summary of the reports prepared. The attention, these reports are being available to you and are reproduced in full in the notice of this AGM. For the year 2023, we issued 8 reports covering the annual financial statements, the consolidated financial statements, remuneration of redeemable shares, related party agreements and [ 4 ] reports on several transactions relating to the share capital. In the first report, we gave an unqualified opinion on the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023. In addition, in keeping with regulations, we've set out in our opinion report key points of our audit of Renault Group's annual and consolidated financial statements. Regarding the annual financial statements, this concerns the valuation of equity investments and related receivables. We also is -- to an unqualified opinion on the 2023 consolidated financial statements for the Renault Group, our controls were performed at material entities and on transactions likely to have a material impact on these financial statements. The key points of the audit brought to your attention in respect of these consolidated financial statements, are 3, the first the recoverable value of assets in the automotive sector. Second is about the accounting methods and recoverable amount of Renault's investment in Nissan. And finally, the third point is the calculation of the expected losses on sales financing receivables. For each of these items, we reviewed the accounting methods applied and satisfied ourselves as to the reasonableness of the estimates made by Renault Group. This report also includes a technical observation that draws the reader's attention to the impacts described in the notes of the financial statements of the first time adoption of the IFRS 17 standard on insurance contract. We've issued 2 additional reports for the ordinary general meeting. The first report is about redeemable shares. In this report, we attest the compliance of the variable remuneration calculation elements for these securities with the terms of the [ ASU ] contract. We also attest the figures taken from the group's consolidated financial statement, is the second report. -- concerns related party agreements. This describes the main terms and conditions of such agreements brought to our attention between your company and its corporate officers or between your company and companies with common directors. The agreements already approved by your AGM in remained in force during the year 2023 are also described in our report. The 5 agreements authorized by the Board of Directors during the year and submitted for your approval today. There are 5 of them. The first 4 were concluded with Nissan Motors Limited and concerned the framework agreement in its addendum, the New Alliance Agreement and its rider, The Ampere Investment agreement, the Notice of transfer of Nissan shares and the fifth and final related party agreement submitted for your approval is the Deed of Termination of the Governance Agreement was entered into between the French -- this company in the French state. Finally in connection with the extraordinary general meeting, we issued 4 special reports on resolutions likely to affect the share capital. These transactions were carried out in accordance with the provisions of the French Commercial Code, and we have no comments or observations to bring to your attention. Chairman, Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention.

Thank you very much Mr. Pruvo for that quite brief but very precise presentation. Now ladies and gentlemen, it is Mr. Pierre Fleuriot, who will be presenting an overview of the work of the Board of Directors and will be talking to you about the compensation or remuneration policies for corporate officers. And once again, I would really like to pay tribute to the work carried out by the Board and extend my warmest thanks to its members. In my view, a company's long-term performance to a large extent depends on the quality of the relationship between the Board and the management team. The balance is always difficult to keep it's tricky. You need to have confidence in each other but not get too comfortable. You need to work together, but without complacency, you need to listen. You do a lot of listening, but very regularly, but without mixing up who's who, each keeping to their role. And I firmly believe that the relationship between the Board and the management once again marked this year by that rare alchemy made up of trust, mutual understanding and listening. In addition to that quality of relations, of course, the performance naturally depends on the quality of the top management and the leadership of the CEO. And on this subject, I would like to share with you one observation and one conviction. The observation is that all of the figures that were mentioned by Luca and Thierry were all the targets that were achieved, most of them 2 years ahead of schedule. And the conviction is that it really does deserve to be looked at because it is not that -- it's not that easy to achieve. And the Board proposal to adjust the de Meo's remuneration, which Pierre Fleuriot will present in detailed deserves to be supported. It reflects the recognition of the work accomplished and the encouragement to continue this work Pierre. Thank you so much for your work and for your work as a Lead Director. You've done such a great job. You have the floor.

Thank you, Jean-Dominique. And ladies and gentlemen, and shareholders, in my capacity as Chairman of the Governance and Remuneration Committee, and as Lead Director, it is my responsibility to present to you a summary of the activities of your Board of Directors and to talk to you about the elements of remuneration of the corporate offices. First, let's take a look at the activities of the Board of Directors. The activity was pretty intense this year, as you can see with the number of meetings. So 13 Board meetings last year, instead of 12 the year before and 17 committee meetings -- sorry, 21 committee meetings, as come back to 17 in 2022. So it was not just a number of meetings that was important. It was also the activity during the meetings. And the content of those meetings. Now the detail of the activities of the Board and its committees are given to you in Chapter 3 of the URD and that's available on the company's website. And this report also presents conclusions of the evaluation of the Board's operation carried out with an independent firm. But I would also like to talk to you about the main themes that we discussed this year, there are 3 themes: the group's strategy, the renewal of the alliance with Nissan and sustainable development. Now for the group strategy, you've heard about that. We had several discussions concerning the implementation of the Renaulution plan. And that was illustrated this year by the setting up of Horse. The joint venture agreement with Geely, the creation and the launch of Ampere, the partnership between Renault Volvo and CMA CGM to create the Flexis joint venture, the strategy and development of the circular economy business with The Future Is Neutral. And the more road map for Mobilize. So all of this has -- have meant a lot of discussions within the Board of Directors and i'd also like to point out that the Board of Directors traveled to Morocco this year to visit the huge plant in Tangier and its ecosystem with the port of Tangers Med, which we really -- which was really equipped setup with Renault in mind. Now the third -- second theme, sorry, was the alliance with Nissan. This was something that we talked about intensely during H1 this year. And so we agreed to the agreement that was signed on the 26th of July 2023. And that will be submitted for your approval in Resolution 6 to 10 today. Now sustainable development, there again, the committee for Strategy and Sustainable Development decided to be heavily involved in monitoring the implementation of the group's ESG strategy. You saw the illustrations of the success that strategy. And also the Board of Directors had a seminar dedicated to SG during which a member of the IPCC presented the various climate challenges to us. Now the composition of the Board of Directors which you now have on the screen. So in terms of percentage and the love of the rate of independence is higher than 50%. And hired -- and the number of women is higher than 40%. That means we have high standards from this point of view. And this year, we are not going to renew, so we will be renewing all of the members, except for 3 employee directors, and that will lead to elections to take place in H2 of this year. So now let's go to the second part of my presentation, which deals with the remuneration of the corporate offices. Let's start with the Chairman of the Board. So I'm going to talk about remuneration for 2023 as well as the elements that are proposed to you for 2024. So as far as the Chairman is concerned, Mr. Jean-Dominique Senard, the remuneration that he was paid corresponds to the authorization you gave us last year, EUR 450,000 and no other elements at all were used for compensation, and that was also the case for Luca de Meo, they were not paid for any directorships. So this is resolution #14, so and #16 for 2024, the same amount EUR 450,000 with no other elements. Now let's take a look at the CEO, 2023 and 2024. For 2023, it's exactly -- these are exactly the terms that you fixed during the AGM last year, EUR 1.3 million for fixed payment EUR 1.95 million of variable remuneration. And so far as the Board had noted that the performance criteria would have been met. And given the performance of the group, the third element is with the performance shares, 97,500 performance shares were allocated and would be paid only once the full performance criteria will have been achieved for 2023, 2024 and 2025. And also co-investment, which means that your CEO will achieved -- acquired 7,790 performance shares, which can obviously be doubled once performance conditions have been assessed for 2024, 2025 and 2026. So that -- there's no surprise there. Now 2024, this is a very important decision because this is about the renewal of the new of the contract for 4 years to come from Mr. Luca de Meo. The work done on this project that has been -- is going to be put to your vote took a long time. Last year, we had 3 meetings of the Compensation Committee and the Board met several times as well. So this took us a long time to discuss this and to achieve the contract for the new mandate which means that we've actually looked at all of the main principles that define this remuneration. First of all, simplified remuneration to reduce the number of tools for remuneration. So we decided to do away with co-investment and therefore, to reduce the number of performance criteria that were being used because they seemed very complex and they seem repetitive. So a simplification. That's the first thing. The second thing is to upgrade. It's quite clear that we do want to ensure that we can keep Mr. Luca de Meo and motivate him for the 4 years to come. And therefore, we needed to ensure that his remuneration was as attractive as that of his peers in equivalent companies. So this meant that we had to define a panel that you have on your -- on the screen here, which was modified compared to last year to take into consideration some of the observations that have been made by some shareholders. And so we removed the non-European car makers, the Japanese and the American car makers, and we've added on European carmakers like Audi and Ferrari. We've also added OEMs like Continental and Michelin and Pirelli and other companies that are in the industrial sector but that have activities that are not far from the automotive sector that we work with. That's why we have these new -- this new panel.The idea was to position de Meo's remuneration on the mean line of this. So you have the 3 histograms here. So the white part is the current remuneration. You can see it's very, very low compared to his peers. The one in the middle that is -- so the total is on the third column. And you can see that we are now at the level of the mean of the market. So this compensation is made up, therefore, of several elements. There's one first element which concerns a fixed remuneration of EUR 1.7 million, and that is in the mean of our comparable panel. Then one variable share, which is -- or we say, a ceiling fixed of 225% and which is possibly going to be proposed to the best managers of Renault, obviously, the CEO as well. Long-term remuneration, LTI, so 120,000 performance shares and performance criteria will be evaluated over [ 2025 ] 2025 and '26. And then we also have for the shareholder. There are 4 criteria. That will lead to the payout or not pay out of these 120,000 shares. And now for additional criteria for the future, he needs to keep the shares of the shares 1/3 of the share, are not 25%, which is the case up to now. Then the last part, which is Renaulution, now here -- this is about stimulating the continuity of the implementation of the strategy throughout his contract with a compensation that would may be possible at the end of his term with a very demanding criteria, which will help us also to protect the future. To ensure that the evolution and the transformation of the group will continue and can continue on robust or robust basis in the future. So this compensation for Renaulution is a single 1 over 4 years, for the whole of the 4-year mandate and the performance conditions will be assessed over the cumulative period of 4 years. The total value of shares may not exceed the maximum of EUR 4.4 million. And the shares will be subject to a 1-year holding period after the 4 years, so they can only be sold 1 year later, and there will be clawback clause, which means that either the Board may not decide to not pay out or decide to take back what has been paid out if conditions impose it. Now the other parts of compensation. These are standard parts of Luca de Meo's contract. Regarding the compensation for members of the Board for the year in 2024. For 2023, it's resolution #13, that was adopted last year. And so there will be -- but the fees will be paid on the basis on the number of meetings and the attendance ratio -- attendance rate, I beg your pardon, you're looking at EUR 1 million altogether, the total amount was EUR 1.5 million. And so it's about 70% of that amount that has been therefore spent in 2023. The amount EUR 1.5 million was defined in 2018 hasn't changed. Since 2024, this is Resolution #18, and that's the final resolution. There's an amendment. It proposes to increase -- and this is only for Board meetings. The fixed part grows from EUR 18,000 to EUR 20,000 and then a variable part, which is increase from EUR 35,000 to EUR 40,000 and that is attendance. So it's paid on the basis of actual attendance of Board meetings. If you compare with the total budget for 2023, we find that even then, we haven't reached a full amount because we're looking in at best at 95% instead of 70% is still under the cap. Thank you for your attention. I'll give the floor back to Jean-Dominique.

Well, thank you, Pierre, for this very clear presentation. This is a complex exercise to be so concise in such complex matters. Dear shareholders, this is an important part of our AGM of our meeting. This is time of exchange with the shareholders, and we're always happy to exchange with you on any issue. But before we start with this Q&A session, let me just tell you that answers to the question that we put to us in writing by a number of shareholders. The answers are to be found on our website, [indiscernible] will give you some standard rules for this exchange. This is nothing new, but always best to remind you how it works.

[Operator Instructions] And now I'll give the floor to our Chairman for this Q&A session.

Thank you, Petri. So before we start, let me just say that this AGM and special shareholder days special moments of exchange. On the 5th of April, together with Luca de Meo, we were able to have a discussion and some shareholders to talk about the group's strategy. And I hope to have further such exchanges during the year. And just like we did today, it's always good to have a site visit on such occasions. And let me -- have a look at what we did last time. [Presentation]

Right. So to start off the discussion, I suggest we begin with a question from a member of our Shareholders' Advisory Committee, and then we'll take questions from the floor. And indeed questions that were sent to us via chat on our website, as we decided to retain -- keep this means of communication, which was introduced during our in-camera meetings for shareholders following this meeting remotely.

I'd like to know why was it that Ampere was not IPO-ed after all the announcements?

Well, maybe Luca can take that question.

Look, the first thing I'd like to say is that Ampere is an industrial project rather than a financial project. The IPO was one of the scenarios considered to finance that project. And that's -- well, when the circumstances were different. You have to realize this is a -- it's time-consuming process, but also at the time, EV start-ups were emerging here and there. There was money here floating. This is no longer the case. But right now, in any case, cash is harder to come by, we will see how things go. But at the time, it seemed like an option to have an IPO and circumstances have changed since. But in the meantime, another thing happened is we found that we ourselves were in a position to generate quite a lot of cash on our own. So we didn't need investor outside investment money to fund. So the combination of both factors meant that we can stick to the project but move on to a different financial scenario. What we need to do is to implement that plan to roll out the industrial plan of Ampere. So that's happening, and we no longer needed the cash. And so we -- there was no need to go on with the IPO since we no longer needed it. Yes. And that decision was unanimous. We thought about this. I mean we looked at this very much in depth, and I can confirm that, that was the right decision in that context.

Now let's give the floor to someone -- the next question from the audience. I see #3 then #6. sir #3.

Mr. Senard. I looked at the presentation from an equipment manufacturer, the outlook for 2023 that we're looking at 12% of the global EV market, 23% for the ICE cars in almost 67% for hybrid. And then the numbers are now moving to 21% for hybrid. We have 5 -- well, you have the alliance Hyundai, Stellantis. So in the electric car, we have Tesla, [ BYD ] Volkswagen, [ Kettling ] and another one. Anyway, France is not really on the picture there. My son is graduating from middle school and he tells us about World War I the taxes of the -- demand river, the revolution in 1968. But what's the position of Renault, Renault is the DNA France of France isn't it? We are at the heart of our French history of French industrial history, the invention of the turbo engines, the -- are raised to the space. I mean, there were many -- we've always had visionary people at Renault inventors who had tried we had [ Mr. Bess ] and even [ Carlson Ghosn ] in some way was a visionary of source. And so we have reached a turning point, what's going to happen next is, I mean, the U.S. have raised trade barriers, should Europe do the same? Is that the right thing? Is it -- should we -- on the contrary, should we forge an alliance with the Chinese because we were -- back then, we were concerned about the Japanese threat, it never materialized, but now it's the Chinese threat, which is 10x as big and so we'll have to wake up and Europe doesn't seem to wake up at all.

So frankly, I don't know how many questions there. Well, you've gone from the past of Renault to the future. So I can tell you one thing is that we don't lack visionary people. I can assure you, all the teams here Luca, heading them. Everyone is about innovation. I told you that in my introduction, the innovation is very much part of the DNA of the group. You were nice enough to say that we are an important element in France. I said that we were very much integral to France. We're not going to change. And innovation is very much at the heart of Renault. But maybe Luca can develop this, can go a little further with international competition and all that. I'm sure that many of you have questions about that. What is the vision of Renault?

Okay. So -- let me answer you try and answer your question. All the people that you mentioned and you said were visionary, actually, they are visionary, they were visionary, but you only realize it afterwards. So maybe what we are doing in 5 or 10 years, people will say we were visionary. I think what I can say is that we -- maybe we didn't have a choice as well, we were forced to think differently from before because we were trying to catch up -- and I remember 3 or 4 years ago, but the team, we knew that we had to do things differently or we wouldn't survive. Now for electric cars. So I think that EVs are certainly going to be dominant in the future of the automotive industry. I don't know what the percentage is going to be. So maybe today, we are at 0% to 10%, but it certainly is going to grow. So this is a growth market, especially in those segments where Renault is a very, very strong, small vehicles, small cars and commercial vehicles, for different reasons. Renault was visionary to go into electric cars and with ZOE and Fluence and all that many, many years ago. And then they hesitated it's not up to me to judge why. But we did take up the torch again. And we've made EVs in the segments where we are really competent and where we are expected to be. So I'm not going to go into all the philosophical discussions about electric cars or non-electric cars. But I believe that in these segments, Renault is going to play a leadership role, and that is our objective. On the other hand, I think it's pretty coherent with the declarations that we made 2, 3 years ago, is that we've always played at 2 levels: with Dacia, with Horse, hybrid cars, democratizing, hybrid cars and all of that. And with E-Tech, we've got something that's really very powerful. So we can play on both levels. I think the Chinese carmakers are ahead of us in this field, but that doesn't mean that we have no chance. I think Europe's always been very open to competition. I've been around in the automotive industry long enough to have worked with Toyota 5 years ago, and was the product manager for Yaris. So I was in there. And I was -- my job was to develop Toyota in Europe, and I would say that Toyota is very much European citizen. Clearly, -- they are clearly established in Europe. And then the Korean brand. So we have the Japanese car makers that came in then Korean carmakers that came in. So after 3 or 4 generations, they are they account for about 25% of the Chinese market, not 85% or 90%. And the same thing is going to be true of Chinese carmakers. We are just going to have to put up with it. These are the things that we say repeat to ourselves every day. We tell ourselves every day that our references have changed. We used to have as references traditional European car makers. And Chinese car makers have caught up with us, practically all of them, the Japanese and Korean carmakers have certainly caught up with us. And now we're looking at Chinese carmakers. We're looking to see how they are managing what they're doing. It's going to be a very, very tough job. But I think we've got the skills. We've got the desire to innovate that we need in this kind of competition. And in fact, I think competition is good. It boosts you. It puts you to be better every day. And the tougher it is the more motivated you are. And I can assure you that in this group, we have decided to fight to the last man.

Okay. I'm going to give question #4. The floor, please. And then #6, go ahead.

I got into the [ Renault ] at 1969, and I have a few shares that were given -- allocated to me during my brilliant career. So I I've got about [ 20 ] not million. So I want to say something about the question of -- so to begin with, I'd like to say something. First of all, because I really appreciate the work that the company has achieved. So the work done by the leadership team, of course, but the work done by every employee from the smallest to the biggest. And I believe that -- our Chairman is 70 years old, and he certainly should be retiring. And most employees of the company are pushed out before they turn 70. Even the best of them. So I would like to invite the Chairman to retire. And since he is very much attached to the future of the company, I would suggest that he should continue his term, as a volunteer. And I suggest that I can assist him, so I can be his domestic servant as well as his car driver without any salary. So that would be for the Chairman. But I'm not -- this is not about you, Mr. Senard. It's about the function. But I certainly believe that you are extremely respectable. And I think you have all my sympathy. Let's go on to the CEO now. As far as the. As far as the leadership is concerned, -- we are starting -- we started at the bottom, but we seem to be going the same way as Carlos Tavares. And if I go back in time because I have seen -- I've attended -- I attended AGMs with Carlos Ghosn, where you had the small shareholders that voted against the increase of salary because his remuneration was absolutely crazy far too high. And if I -- if I take the example of the famous directors of this company,[ Pierre Le Fouche ] and Pierre Dreyfus, they both had salaries that were those of highly placed person director in the company will, of course, a flat and car but nothing like the kind of salaries that we are being -- are being asked to give all of you today. So there again, this is not about the people. I'm just talking about the salary for this function. I think that your wages are scandalous because the results obtained were results that were obtained by the whole of the company. Because if we continue to increase the wages, then that should be applied to the employees, all the employees of the company. Otherwise, just take the same kind of increases or raises that are given to the other employees, just a few percentages per year. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much for all your care and attention for me. I don't fix my own salary. It's the Board that fix it. So you suggest that it should be -- it's very nice of you to suggest that it should be increased every year. I could suggest back to the Board because I've had the same salary for the last 6 years. It hasn't moved at all. As far as my age is concerned, of course, I'm as old as I am. But I get the feeling that I still have got a little bit of energy left. It's always funny because you named me appointed me director, and you renewed my term. So I don't see why I shouldn't carry my term through to the end because otherwise, I think I would be disrespecting your votes, But it's very nice to you anyway. Now as far as Luca is concerned, let me be very clear. I am one of those French company leaders that spent my life saying that we should have moderate salaries. But we have to have recognition. Recognition is for everyone. And I do believe sincerely that what is happening in the company today and the discussions that you have in terms of wages are quite remarkable in terms of parity. Maybe we may talk about that so much. But this year, for example, all the work that we've done on the employee participation and all of that is quite remarkable. I think everyone should be satisfied. Of course, nothing is perfect, but very frankly, I've really looked at all this with a great -- with a lot of attention, and this is a subject that really concerns me. So I think that -- this is quite exemplary. And as far as Luca is concerned, I suggest that you should recognize, we should recognize your very, very positive comment on what he's done so far. But I do believe that it needs -- it should be not just recognized but also rewarded. And as far as the salaries are concerned, I consider that it is very reasonable indeed. It is at the mean barley of what is happening in the whole of the industry. And whether you can see it or not, we are not the only ones in the world. And I suggest that if you combine moderation and intelligence, that is to say, let us bring 80% of this situation -- of this remuneration, which is variable and it's -- it is conditioned on so many criteria. And you recognize that I'd like to congratulate you on that. So use that intelligence in being moderate, I believe that we have hit on the right medium. I believe not only does Luca deserve what we propose today, but I do believe that for the whole of the industry, it's going to be exemplary at this level. So that's what I wanted to say, and I can assure you that I will obviously follow whatever proposal you make. Thank you very much. So I'm afraid that you might have to put up with me for another 2 years if I'm still alive, if I remain alive. But I see what great shape you're in my dear, you seems like you're quite exemplary. Question #6.

There's a criteria for variable share. So I know a whole category of people, including in my family, who make tens of millions per month because they made a start-up, and they sold it after a few years. And I'm absolutely convinced that Luca de Meo could do exactly the same thing. And I'm sure that he could set up his own company and make hundreds of millions of euros. So I don't want to compare him with that. I want to compare the variable part with Tesla and Volkswagen. So Tesla, the guy, Elon Musk has no salary. He is paid in shares, but these are new shares are created. So he's actually diluting the shareholding of this company. So he's made several billion when the capitalization of the company went up and that obviously brought a lot of criticism, but he's not got any money for the last 3 years because the shares haven't moved. So that was the first criterion on the value of the company. The stock market capitalization. Now Volkswagen, it's complicated, there are many criteria, but there's one I'd like to suggest, which concerns productivity, which is measured since the beginning of 2000 and that is the added value per year and per employee. It is a productivity indicator. And just to give you a few references, this added value. Some years has gone over EUR 100,000 per year and per employee. And so at the time, Volkswagen used to pay about EUR 70,000 to its employees at the time and they continued to pay the same. So in Renault, the added value per year and per employee was about EUR 60,000 to EUR 70,000 per year, which means that if you are paying EUR 70,000 per year to your employees, it's more complicated. So what I would suggest is to have variable shares of remuneration on productivity, not necessarily the ones that Volkswagen has had but you've already talked about one criteria, which is a number of hours to assemble a vehicle. You talked about 9 hours because that was a reference with Tesla, but you didn't tell us recently what the criteria -- that criterion stands right now. And so I would prefer that added value by every hour worked, per hour worked. So when you're talking about productivity after all, if an employee is paid, then the -- if productivity goes up, then you can increase the cost of that hour of work. So that would be an indicator that would align the employees' salaries on the salaries on the salaries of the managers.

Yes. Thank you very much. I'm sure that we will note it just one comment that I could make here is that criteria concerning productivity are not very easy to determine always, especially because it depends very much on the geography where you are, et cetera. And in any case, the criteria that are used here are the result of the increase in productivity, the criteria that we are talking about if they are achieved, it would have -- it will mean that productivity has gone up considerably. So I assure you that our -- you must understand that it's not as easy as to measure. And once again, without the improvement in productivity in all of the sites of the group, we would not be here talking to you about the results that we talked up last year. So there's one question. if our relationship with China is made harder, what do we do to ensure that our China dependency doesn't lead us down the same road as our dependency on Russia. Okay. I'll give the question to Luca. But you must understand that it's very different because the question of Russia is a situation where we were producing in that country, but the geopolitical stress meant that we had to shut down our production there, and it was very difficult indeed. I think at that point, we took a very, very brave decision, probably the most -- the bravest one we could take at the time. In the case of China, we -- today, Apart from the Spring, we do not produce vehicles massively in China. So the situation is very different because as soon as China is concerned, we depend on China just like any other part of the automotive industry in the world because over the last 25 years, China has built a very strong strategy. We can't really blame them for it because they have full control over the materials that are necessary to build the batteries that are needed for electric vehicles. And this is a field where they were able to do vertical integration to an extraordinary extent and put the right control not only on the mines that are necessary for this, but also in the processing of the ore that comes out of these mines. The refining of it, so very many years to come, we are still going to be dependent on China because in point of fact, they are still the providers of these substances worldwide. But Luca, maybe you can talk about the measures that we've taken recently to try and create a sort of independence as quickly as possible or at least a sort of neutrality that would make it possible for us to no longer be subject or be subjected to any geopolitical strains that come up. So you can tell us what the -- you can tell us about the work we've done with friendly countries like Morocco, but also with other European countries. We're going to continue to do that. Of course, we have partnerships. For example, for batteries, with Korean groups, that from that point of view, I would say, are pretty pure compared to the Chinese question. So it's more secure -- sorry, secure. And so -- so -- but that means we are not in so much danger today. So we -- I can assure you, we're doing all we can. And at the level of the Board, we are all -- we always pay attention to the fact that we should make -- take all of the right decisions to ensure that the context that we are in today should not in the future become a risk for the group. So the context is there. The group is going to do all it can. And it's going to take us some time. You may remember that [ Fernand Renault ] said that things in rural France takes time. So the same is true here. Luca, what would you say?

Yes, of course, Certainly, I don't want things to get -- get tight or stressed out because we need open markets. We need parts to circulate widely, we need all substances and products to circulate widely all over the world. So I do not think that uncoupling China from the rest of the world is going to be positive for industry, not at all. We can derisk, of course, as much as we can, but we can't cut ourselves off from China. It's impossible, especially in certain fields where we can't do without China, especially for the whole of the value chain of the EV, as Jean-Dominique said, we're looking for collaboration with Chinese companies. And -- we are not -- to many, it's a question of luck, but we're not as exposed to the Chinese market, at least we haven't been in the recent history of Renault. So we decided to go into China, the strategy was -- the strategy was not successful and I think that Renault managed the complicated situation that came up pretty well. We have a good relationship with certain players there. And technically, we really don't have that much exposure to China. You have OEMs that have half of their business or more there. That's not our case. And we would like to develop more business there. Hopefully, if -- as long as the situation stays calm.

Yes. please do be aware that these are all things that we keep in mind and that we talk about very regularly. Okay. Maybe we can take question number 3 over there.

I have a question that concerns Renault Trucks because you haven't really talked about it, and that was normal because there was so much to say, but I do want to know whether in the reflection that you're carrying out keeping in mind that the electric solution is not the right one for this kind of vehicle. We are -- I think people are looking more at hydrogen. Are you looking at this as well? Are you thinking about this?

Well, I don't want to hurt you in any way, but we sold that division about 20-years ago. So really, we don't have anything to do with them anymore.

But that doesn't mean we're not thinking about hydrogen. Yes, we are thinking of commercial vehicles with hydrogen. And Luca and I as well as the rest of the team, we do believe that commercial vehicles are going to change significantly over the 10 or 15 years to come. And we have to be able to produce green hydrogen at a proper cost, which is not yet feasible. Okay. Thank you so much. Maybe question number two.

Yes, so in quite a recent past, there was a crisis in semiconductors. And obviously, that had a specific impact on the -- had a bad impact on the automotive sector. So how do you plan to secure the supply of raw materials, especially those that are linked to EVs?

Well, yes, actually, the -- this kind of crisis with the semiconductors, these are crisis that teach us so much. So we've been talking, we've been working on this with Francois Provost, with Jean and all of that because at the time, none of the OEMs saw this happening, nobody had foreseen that at all. Because all of the value chain of these semiconductors were in our -- in the hands of our Tier 1 suppliers, Bosch value, et cetera. So when it actually impinged on us, we had no choice, we had to pay. So I think we probably paid no more than the others. Because every year, our results improved even during those crisis. But based on that, we worked extremely hard from the technical point of view to try and understand to standardize certain parts, to try and ensure that we no longer had to use these very specific Renault parts that were very difficult to do source and all of that. And another thing we've done is that we signed a deal with Qualcomm, which makes chips and semiconductors, which is an American company. And in that contract, they are committed to supply us -- at a certain price, a certain quantity and at the best level of technology, all the semiconductors we need. So this is not a perfect situation, but we've really, really turned the situation around. So this was such a tough situation what happened about a couple of years ago. I don't think it's going to happen again. But the problem is it's not just us , the fact is that the semiconductor industry is completely concentrated. There's 4 or 5 different sectors. And for each of these sectors is that you have the member, you have chipset, you have all of that. The world has actually let companies completely concentrate. So in each of these segments, 2 or 3 companies hold 80% of the business. So you will have companies like TSMC in Taiwan, that produce 70% of that Green Board on which the printed circuits are made. And this is something that, obviously -- the Americans are looking at, there are European projects as well to try and put production capacities into Europe. But it's a huge, huge subject. But of course, we can do all, we can. We can use the levers we have and that we can act on. But I think that if Armageddon were to happen, we'll all have problems. Renault is not going to be the only one. The whole planet will have problems. And -- but I think certainly, we are in a much better situation today than we were 2 or 3 years ago.

Yes. Okay. And that links back to the preceding question as well on the sovereignty of the Renault Group in this field. And we certainly learnt a lot. Yes, I'll take question number one.

Two short questions. First of all, what happened with your agreements with Mercedes after the smart? And second, what about Renault Samsung, what happened to that? We never hear about that anymore.

Well, as far as Mercedes is concerned, we are still producing the Kangoo. They decided unilaterally to pull out of the Renault's plant. And to delegate the production of those -- their cars to Geely in China. This was their decision. And so over the last 2 or 3 years, in fact, since I arrived, I think, we tried to find the solution for the future of Renault. So right now, it's working, not at full capacity, but it's working. We decided to produce the end of life cycle earlier Twingo, and we are also going to see if we could -- whether or not we can put the new Twingo there. As far as the Kangoo is concerned, we are moving forward. We are making Citan for Mercedes, that's doing pretty well, et cetera. Now for Renault Samsung, there are 2 points. First of all, we no longer use the Samsung brand, because it was an agreement that had been signed, but the deadline has been reached. Then we called the company Renault Korea. We renamed it. So it's Renault's logo that figures on the cars and on the dealerships, and we are preparing the launch of a car that we prepared on a platform that Geely gave us, on which we're going to develop a second car that will come -- will be on the roads by 2025, 2026. So we have 2 -- these segment SUVs which will be sold in Korea, but they are Renault brand and worldwide also with the Renault brand. So this will be one part of the range that we have set up of our lineup to reconquer the world under the Renault badge. We mentioned this during the Board meeting this morning, our collaboration with Geely in Korea is something that is pretty amazing. The local teams are highly motivated. The collaboration is going very, very well, but of course, it came in 2021 when we were looking at Korea, we didn't have any solution for Korea after Arkana. And the plant was at 20% or 30% of capacity and no more. So that meant that if we had to close the plant, it would have meant an impairment of about EUR 2 billion and the restructuring costs of another EUR 1 billion. So I can assure you that the agreement that we signed with Geely certainly helped us to not drown. And in terms of impact, it would have been the same hit as we took in Russia. Right now, we have a future. We've got new ideas for new cars. So we are very happy with what is happening in Korea. I was in Korea 7 or 8 months ago, and I saw that the teams were so motivated, extremely motivated.

Yes, you're right. I'm going to be there in a month's time. And it's true that it's pretty fantastic what's happening. And Luca, you mentioned the hubs that we've created in the world, and it's very promising. It's a bit like the certain -- like some of the situations that Renault had which earlier for Renault, which were in a trough situation, but now we are coming back up. So I know that there are still questions from this room, but I have a question from the chat that I'd like to answer. Renault has showed that it will commit to France. Do you -- Will you still agree with Mr. Macron and the French government after 2025. My answer to that is yes. I think that we've really, really bet on France. And I would say that Luca is even more motivated than we are so that Renault does not lose its anchor -- deep anchor and routes in France. So right now, -- you can see that in our country, we are exemplary. And all these investments we've made are certainly not going to be made just for 2 years. We've really committed in the long term to France and France is going to remain at the heart of Renault. We have a question here in the room. Sorry, I haven't seen you. We will take #6, and then we'll take maybe one more very quickly.

Yes. Hello. I'm an individual shareholder. I have 2 questions. My first one concerns Software Republique. Could you tell us where we stand with that? We've got new players in there. And the second one concerns talents, especially you have more and more software, more and more AI. How do you manage skills, especially with the international competition, especially with the GAFA companies?

Yes, these are very interesting questions. Software Republique is something that we created and we brought really a whole constellation around us because we don't want to be a solar system with Renault at the center. And after 2, 3 years of work, we found quite an interesting balance. And we managed to federate the teams of companies that are pretty legendary, Thales, ST Microelectronics, Orange, Dassault Systemes, these are all the very cream of French industry. There's one thing that's new, which is JCDecaux has also joined the Software Republique. There are already 2, 3 projects that are out there. The charger that's produced in France, for example, V2G, so it's the chargers that we sell with our Scenic, with our Renault 5. We are very competitive in terms of cost, and there's this function that's really pretty new, we decided to be the first to put V2G into our cars, vehicle-to-grid. And of course, this is just going to carry on, but I don't have the time to go into that in more detail. So anyway that's carrying on. That's continuing. This year, we're going to be at Viva Tech again with a concept that's pretty interesting. Because we're using the FlexEVan to show innovations that are linked to the possibility of giving medical services where no clinics or dispensaries exist. And we built that on the Scenic concept. There were 14 innovations, world firsts. And of these -- and of these 14, 7 of these are going to be produced -- mass produced. So with my colleagues, the other CEOs of the other companies, it's so rewarding. It's so amazing. But this is our business. This is not just about chatting just to meet. We are working hard, and you'll see if you look at what's happening in Viva Tech, these are concrete projects, and I really love this because I've tried to do things like this in Germany, in Italy, in Spain, but there is no -- nothing that is comparable to Software Republique, in terms of innovation, in terms of different teams coming together. We are very proud of it.