Patrice Haettel, CEO of Horse: "Spain is our spearhead in hybrid and combustion engines"
In November 2022, the Renault Group decided to separate its combustion car business from that of 100% electric cars.. And so, last July Horse was born, the division that will develop and supply engines, gearboxes and batteries for low-emission thermal and hybrid vehicles.. Horse will be joined by the Chinese Geely – with its subsidiary Aurobay – and it is expected that the oil company Aramco will also create a global joint venture with 17 plants and 19,000 employees.
Of them, 9,000 will come from Renault and 3,400, specifically, from Spain, which will provide the factories in Seville (gearboxes) and Valladolid (engines) and an R&D&i center in the latter.. Furthermore, also in July the Horse headquarters was awarded to Madrid, where its CEO, Patrice Haettel, receives EL MUNDO. It is the first interview he gives to a Spanish media.
The separation between combustion and electric, is it inevitable? A question of survival? Yeah. They may not achieve complete separation like us, but all groups do it.. The life cycles are not the same – much faster in batteries – and the technology is not the same either: the electric company needs a lot of investments and partners. So yes, they had to be separated. And then we decided to create a joint venture from which a very powerful supplier that did not exist before would emerge: if we add Horse and Geely, we have a turnover of 15 billion euros.. Good, but what does your company contribute to the industry and the customer? A realistic proposal for decarbonization and energy transition. There is a lot of talk about electric vehicles, but there is no single path to that goal and a hybrid, which already reduces CO2 by 20%, seems much better to me in that transition. In addition, we went from a European perimeter to a global one, with a presence in 130 countries and together with Geely, covering 80% of the market needs.. Furthermore, by 2040 it is expected that more than 50% of the cars sold will be combustion and hybrid.. Without forgetting that we work on technologies such as e-fuels [CO2-neutral synthetic fuels] and hydrogen, for which we see a future. Nissan, which is allied with the Renault Group and will enter Ampere – the 100% electric division – will not be in Horse. Fear of the Chinese side? Nissan also wants to separate combustion from the electricity business, but in a different way. In any case, he is a client of ours and will continue to be so.. Because the joint venture will supply the Renault, Geely, Nissan and Mitsubishi brands.. And that is a very strong business base for at least 10 years.. But we will also work with any brand to help you manage the end of your thermal cars.. In this sense, are you already negotiating with other manufacturers? Yes, we have contacts and something could be finalized before the end of the year, but I can't say more. Of course, in five years we will have new clients. Could they also be Chinese? In Europe, we see Chinese brands only as electric, which is the technology they are arriving with and that they control. But in China many hybrids are sold and although Geely is already there with its brands and factories, we have no problem looking for new partners there.. Spain took over the Horse headquarters by beating Romania [cradle of Dacia, also of the Renault Group] and despite the fact that the Spanish Government did not oppose a tough Euro 7. What tipped the balance? Its best geographical location? Spain is already a very strong country within Renault [with the vehicle plants in Palencia and Valladolid] and now in Horse. It represents a very important weight of this [almost 20% of the total] with two factories, an R&D&i center and all the skills necessary to develop hybrid propellants.. It is our spearhead, they have been working very well for years, with a very strong industrial and supplier network.. Apart from being in Europe and in a stable country, something also very important for the future. A future that goes beyond 2035, when combustion vehicles are banned in the EU.. Yeah. But we will also continue to have a future in Europe as the door has been opened to synthetic fuels, which can be key to decarbonizing the thermal cars that already exist.. We have done laboratory tests and all our engines could already work with e-fuels, without adaptation. Furthermore, it remains to be seen how Euro 7 ends.. That said, each region of the world will have its path to decarbonization. What we have to do is adapt to them with a great advantage: Horse and Geely are complementary in markets and technologies, so there is no cannibalization and it will almost always be about adding advantages. The probable relaxation of Euro 7 is good news for you. It will be, above all, for the buyer. A hard Euro 7 would mean more than 1,500 euros more in the price of small cars and that could have a perverse effect on improving air quality. Because many customers, instead of changing their car, would stay with one that is 10 or 15 years old.. And this, when the fleet renewal rate is very low. The Spanish Government, both in purchase aid and in PERTE, has left out hybrid cars. What do you think about it? As Europe has been interested in electric vehicles since 2035, it is normal for its countries to take that path. But it would be good, if the political moment allows it, for there to be broader aid for the decarbonization of the park. Regarding the PERTE, we have presented small projects to the second call and we are talking with the Government regarding the third, whether for hybrids or e-fuels.. Here we have all the necessary skills and capabilities and the final result would be a more powerful and open Spanish automobile industry with many technologies.. One last question. In France, is there jealousy of the Spanish weight within the Renault Group? Stellantis wants to relocate everything it can…. Not at all. They are very happy since the arrival of Luca de Meo, who has made France the electric pole of the group. Spain is the hybrid and that, added to Horse, can be very beneficial for the different brands of the group