Europe to Recover in 2011, Says Renault Boss

Even if some automakers are still feeling the pressure of the economic recession, the European sector is going to recover by 2011, Carlos Ghosn, CEO of French manufacturer Renault said in an interview for the International Herald Tribune on Wednesday. Partially, this will happen thanks to the big incentives governments across the continent are offering, which encourage buyers to trade in their old car in return for a new and greener one.

"I don't see it in Europe before 2011. I see 2010 at the same level of 2009, with ups and downs," he said in the interview. "If scrapping incentives were to continue for a while, it would be a different story. Stopping the incentives would have a recessionary impact."

“The incentives have given us some breathing room and obviously we are worried about what happens when they end,” he added. “We are worried because we know it will have a negative impact. Hopefully, the economy will have improved enough by then so that the impact will not be too dramatic.”

Talking about the best ways to tackle the recession and about Renault's future, Ghosn revealed that getting back in the United States is not a priority for the French manufacturer, in spite of all those reports claiming that Renault could get involved in all kind of deals to assure its North American expansion.

“We have so many other priorities to deal with, like Russia,” he said. “We have a new plant in Morocco, we have the projects in India. The priority is to weather the crisis and prepare for the postcrisis era — returning to the U.S. is not on the agenda.”