French Auto Industry, Government Aim for 118-MPG Car

PARIS – France is trying to pull its automotive industry together with a project to produce a popularly priced subcompact car in 2020 that gets 118 mpg (2.0 L/100 km).

In addition to the national goal, announced in September by President Francois Hollande, the country has established an organization that brings together suppliers, automakers, engineers and research centers: the PFA (Plate-forme pour la Filiere Automobile, loosely translated as group for the fabric of the whole auto industry.)

“We have to propose a vehicle consuming 2.0 L/100 km selling for €12,000 to €15,000 ($16,600 to $19,500),” says Renault’s Philippe Doublet, in charge of Renault research. He says the car likely will be a gasoline-electric hybrid because, while diesel fuel is denser in energy, the ambition is to sell the car around the world and diesel is specific to Europe.

France has been worried by the movement of jobs to lower-cost countries inside and outside Europe, and has countered with the PFA and two principal challenges aimed at advancing automotive technology in France: In the longer term is an effort to produce autonomous vehicles. The 2.0L car (emitting about 47 g/km of carbon dioxide) is a midterm goal for B-segment cars the size of a Renault Clio or Volkswagen Polo.

“We want to make France the precursor of tomorrow’s technologies,” Michelin CEO Michel Rollier says at the opening of two days of PFA workshops that attracted more than 700 people from throughout the French automotive industry.

Speakers at the session on the 2.0L car emphasize that to meet cost goals, the car cannot rely on brand-new technology such as hydrogen, although it is likely to be a hybrid with improved internal-combustion-engine efficiency and reduced energy requirements. Engineers will work to reduce aerodynamic and mechanical friction and focus on lowering mass to about 1,870 lbs. (850 kg), some 440-550 lbs. (200-250 kg) less than today’s B-segment leaders.

“For a hybrid vehicle, to reach 2.0 L/100 km, lightweighting is essential,” Doublet says. “For a plug-in hybrid, the challenge is to find the best compromise between light weight and the electric motor.”

Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen are leading the 2.0L car project under the PFA umbrella, with the four large French suppliers Valeo, Faurecia, Plastic Omnium and Michelin as well as small and medium companies, says Jean-Michel Billig, Renault’s director of engineering, who presented the project. The two automakers are expected to show prototypes at the Paris auto show in September 2014.

The longer-term goal of autonomous cars will be a challenge for PSA and Renault, although Renault’s alliance partner Nissan is well advanced in developing the technology.

The French brands appear to be far behind the German leaders; where the Mercedes-Benz S-Class has more than 20 advanced driver-assistance systems, current French products are limited to such basics as lane-keeping and emergency braking. However, supplier Valeo is well established in the ADAS world, including remote parking systems and sophisticated recognition software for cameras.

“Driver-assistance systems are growing and have become strategic for the automotive industry and the maintenance of its workforce, notably in R&D and product development,” says the French website of the Ministry of Industrial Redevelopment.

The minister, Arnault Montebourg, described the challenge in a Europe1 radio interview the day before Hollande announced 34 projects to reindustrialize France, including the two for the automobile industry: “We have (in France) the technological bricks with Valeo and Renault-Nissan. But if we have some of the bricks, we have not yet succeeded in putting them all together.

“We are going to have to get there in the next 10 years if we don’t want to be passed by our competitors. It’s a question of using them to make a market that will revolutionize the way cars are used. Instead of driving, you could work or telephone.”

The PFA was founded four years ago, and version 1.0 was not particularly robust. Now, however, it appears to be more important to the industry and to France.

Thierry Bolore, Renault’s new chief competitive officer in charge of products, engineering and manufacturing, who joined the automaker from Faurecia in September 2012, gave a keynote address contending the PFA can help France and the 500,000 people who work in the industry.

“The VDA is a remarkable force on subjects like CO2 and the electric-recharging posts,” he says, referring to the German industry association that has suppliers and automakers working together. The VDA fought and won the political battle against France to establish the standard for electric-vehicle plugs and sockets, and now the VDA is lobbying (the European Union) in Brussels to relax rules for 95 g/km fuel efficiency in 2020.

Renault, PSA and Fiat all have lobbied in favor of keeping that goal, however, as their products are closer to meeting it.

“JAMA in Japan, established in 1967, is also powerful,” with offices around the world that help the Japanese industry, Bolore says. “We can’t be the little Gallic village. We have to think of the whole world and of profitability.”