PARIS- French car company Renault (EPA:RENA) said it planned to split its combustion engine business from its electric vehicle business in order to reach an operating margin of 8% by 2025. However, this plan still needs approval from its alliance partner Nissan (OTC:NSANY).
Before a long-awaited investor presentation on Tuesday, Renault set an 8% goal for 2025. In 2030, this goal will rise to more than 10%, up from the expected 5% this year.
But it still needs to give details about its electric vehicle unit, in which Nissan is expected to take a stake whose size is still being discussed, and a separate combustion engine business, which it said on Tuesday it would split 50/50 with a Chinese rival, Geely.
Related: Nissan says that it and Renault talked about how to compete better in the electric car market.
Renault is changing in a complicated way on two fronts. On the one hand, it wants to change its partnership with Nissan and get the Japanese car company to put money into a new electric car unit called Ampere.
At the same time, it wants to split off its gasoline car business, which has the code name “Horse,” and sell a big part of it to Geely.
When Renault Group Chief Executive Luca de Meo gives an update on the French automaker’s strategy and financial projections on Tuesday, investors will want to know more about how both sets of negotiations are going. But so far, there aren’t many details, and Renault’s statement from Tuesday morning only said that they were talking with Nissan.
