Renault scraps Ampere IPO

Renault Group, a prominent player in the automotive industry, has decided to pull the plug on its much-anticipated IPO for the Ampere electric vehicle unit. The reason cited is that "current market conditions are not met" for a successful public listing.

CEO Luca de Meo, in a news release, made it clear that this decision won't hamper Renault's electric vehicle and software strategy, and it won’t have negative financial repercussions.

Ampere, which encompasses all of Renault's EV activities, including factories in northern France and around 11,000 employees, is expected to receive continued funding until it achieves break-even status in 2025. The company has set ambitious financial targets, aiming for over $12 billion in revenue by 2025, break-even in 2025, $29 billion in revenue by 2031, and a minimum operating margin of 10 percent by 2030.

Initially planned for late 2023 and later pushed to the first half of this year, the canceled IPO echoes a broader trend in the EV industry. Electric vehicle-focused startups have faced a mixed bag of results in the public markets. Polestar, which went public in the US in 2022, announced the cutting of 450 jobs and sought funding from backers due to its underperforming share price.

Ampere has an ambitious roadmap ahead, planning to launch seven EV models by 2031, including a city car priced under $23,000 to replace the current Renault Twingo. Renault asserts that Ampere will be profitable because it can achieve price parity with gas-powered cars more rapidly than other EV manufacturers. This is attributed to Ampere's unique fusion of startup agility with the extensive experience and scale of a legacy automaker, allowing for a 40 percent reduction in EV development and production costs.

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