RENAULT 
According to one of the sources, Saudi Aramaco could also announce at the time of closing the signature of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to join the joint venture, confirming its letter of intent of last March and its desire to become a strategic investor reaffirmed in July 2023.
According to the source, the joint venture's final shareholding could give 40% to Horse (Renault), 40% to Geely and 20% to Aramco, but discussions on the Saudi group's precise investment are still ongoing.
Last July, Renault and Geely announced an initial JV structure of 50% for Renault and 50% for Geely - divided into 33% for Aurobay and 17% for GHPT, two subsidiaries of the Chinese group.
"The projects are progressing as planned, and we will communicate in due course," said a Renault spokeswoman, without elaborating, while a Geely Europe spokesman said he had "no comment on the timetable" of the project.
Aramco, for its part, replied in an e-mail that it was not in a position to comment on this information immediately.
The creation of an internal combustion and hybrid champion, expected to generate annual sales of 15 billion euros with 19,000 employees at 22 sites worldwide - including in Spain, Romania, Turkey, South America and China - is one of the two main pillars of Renault's strategy to stay in the race against larger competitors.
Luca de Meo is multiplying partnerships to reduce costs and access new markets. The transformation of the group's historic business has been overshadowed of late by its other major project dedicated to electrics and software, Ampère, whose IPO was abruptly cancelled in January due to market conditions.
Last year, Renault achieved around 93% of its 2.23 million sales with combustion and hydride engine vehicles, compared with around 7% with purely electric models, for which its range has not yet been completely renewed.
THE RETURN OF THE HISTORIC BUSINESS
"The abandonment of the Ampère IPO should finally put the spectacular turnaround of Renault's historic business back at the top of the agenda, while giving the group more time to flesh out its electric balance sheet," wrote BNP in a note last week.
The Renault-Geely JV will operate as an equipment supplier for both groups' brands, but also for other third-party manufacturers. According to both sources, interest is keen, both outside Europe, where many markets are a long way from going all-electric, and on the European continent, where some customers are not ruling out a postponement of the 2035 ban on combustion engines.
Renault, which will publish its 2023 results next Thursday, said it was aiming for an operating margin at the top end of its forecast range of 7% to 8% for the past year, compared with less than 6% in 2022. Its target for 2025 is set at 8%, and for 2030 at 10%.
The Group is also counting on automotive operating free cash flow of €2.5 billion or more in 2023.
Despite the improvement in its performance, Renault still suffers from the comparison with Stellantis, the result of the merger between its French rival PSA and FCA.
The 14-brand group, which this week denied reports in the Italian press that France was pushing for a merger between the two automakers, is one of the most profitable in the sector. Its results, to be published on the same day as Renault's, should once again be marked by a double-digit adjusted operating margin. (Gilles Guillaume reports, edited by Sophie Louet)
