PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Renault is projecting that its sales of fully electric and hybrid cars will more than double in 2021 from a year earlier, two sources close to the company said, as automakers race to try and gain an edge in the segment.
Car companies are battling to stay ahead of a shift towards zero emission vehicles, a market already dominated by specialist Tesla and Germany’s Volkswagen, which is ramping up its production efforts and investments.
Renault’s working hypothesis for 2021, bar hiccups due to a shortage of components such as semi-conductor chips, is for sales of hybrid and fully electric vehicles to reach 350,000, the two sources with knowledge of its internal estimates said.
The figure, which only includes the group’s Renault and Dacia brands, compares to the Volkswagen brand’s projection for 450,000 electrified vehicle deliveries this year, which includes hybrid and fully electric cars.
The wider Volkswagen company, which also includes brands such as Seat and Audi brands, is targeting 1 million electrified vehicle deliveries in 2021, however.
Renault declined to comment.
(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume; Writing by Sarah White; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
