French car maker Renault will not go ahead with an initial public offering of its electric vehicle unit Ampere, planned for next year, if the valuation is too low, Renault chief executive Luca de Meo said on Wednesday.
"We are not crazy," de Meo told reporters ahead of an investor presentation aimed at drumming up support for the IPO.
Finance chief Thierry Pieton told reporters that Renault would not dispose off of Ampere cheap, and had enough cash flows to keep funding it, if it did not get the required valuation for going public, Reuters noted.
"We are not going to give it away," he said.
As an alternative if Renault would look at distrubuting Ampere shares to existing Renault shareholders instead of going ahead with the IPO, he said, "Renault is always open to other options for Ampere, but the IPO is the preferred option."
Persons in the know told the newswire last month that Renault was unlikely to proceed with the IPO if valuation fell below Euro 7 billion.
The company had forecast Euro 10 billion in revenues in 2025, more than doubling to 25 billion euros in 2031, Reuters noted.
The plan has been complicated by slower demand for EVs, choppy markets and increased Chinese competition. Sources close to Reuters had informed the newswire last month that Meo's Euro 8-10 billion valuation looked over ambitious.
Pieton said Renault aimed to sell EVs at the same price as its combustion engine cars earlier than rivals, with smaller EV models reaching price parity in the coming two years, and bigger ones by 2027-28, Reuters reported.
"We want to democratise EVs in Europe. We will reduce our costs to lower our prices while improving our margins at the same time," he said.