More HORSEpower for Spain as Renault chooses Madrid for Horse headquarters

HORSE, the new Renault company, will be based in Madrid.

Rumania, which produces the Dacia range, was competing with Spain to be chosen by the joint venture initiative between Renault and the Chinese automotive company Geely.  Instead, the June 14 announcement has underlined Renault’s commitment to Spain, its second-most important industrial hub after France.

The new company, Horse, will focus on developing internal combustion engines, hybrids and new technologies including e-fuels although the announcement will not have immediate investment repercussions.

Nevertheless, the presence of Horse in Madrid will put Spain at an advantage regarding decision-making by a company that foresees an annual turnover of €15 billion for its 15 production plants worldwide.

Renault’s currently operates a gearbox factory in Sevilla and an engine factory in Valladolid, both of which will become Horse assets.
While the future Renault spinoff Ampere will focus on electric vehicles, Horse represents Renault’s endeavours to continue producing combustion engine vehicles using less polluting technologies both in Europe and outside it.

The company believes that synthetic fuels will prolong the combustion engine’s life inside Europe, although the European Commission is banning the sale of polluting vehicles, including hybrids, from 2035 onwards.

While Italy totally opposes the ban, Germany is calling for an exemption for vehicles that use climate-neutral synthetic fuels, although at present these are exceptionally expensive compared with petrol or diesel.