Dexia could announce a provision of $ 3.6 billion

28th May

Trading in Dexia shares was suspended on Friday morning around 10:30. The Belgian financial markets authority, to stop this initiative, said that trading will remain suspended until Dexia publishes appropriate information, "a term traditionally used when a group is preparing to publish sensitive information in the next few hours.

According to information from Wansquare, Dexia has decided to settle faster than expected its portfolio of toxic financial assets. The bank will acknowledge in the second quarter of 2011 a special provision of 3.6 billion euros. "

The bank, which escaped bankruptcy in the fall of 2008 thanks to the bailout carried out by the Belgian, French and Luxembourg, was forced last year by the European authorities to divest some of its activities in exchange for aid received during crisis.Not long ago, the European Commission delivered a blow to pressure the U.S. shareholders of Dexia and the Belgian bank accused of not respecting the route plan it had agreed to pay lip service in February 2010. Pierre Mariani, Dexia's managing director, argued therefore for an acceleration of sales of the group, the risk of large losses. His plan: sell bulk whole sections of the 138 billion euros of assets under management now in extinction. Dexia has a particular yield-Deniz Emeklilik, its Turkish subsidiary of insurance. According to press reports, five candidates are still in contention, with French AXA and CNP Assurances.

Thus, once operations resulted, Dexia will be totally released from the mix of public support and the constraints imposed by Brussels."There will be no consequences in terms of liquidity," says Wansquare.

For now, Dexia declines to comment on the reasons for the suspension of trading. Dexia shares was suspended while she was 3.24% at 2.514 euro, lost 3.3% since the beginning of the year after dropping 38.9% in 2010.

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Métro, boulot, dodo, the cult of mobility is everywhere havoc

9th May

"The legislation governing the couples and the Labour embarked on a chase. The great divorce reform of 1975 was followed in 1979 by the introduction of fixed term contracts (CDD).

Lawyers are rubbing their hands across the Atlantic. The market for divorces finally woke up after two years of torpor. "They started to leave at the end of 2010, when their numbers had fallen by 24% in 2008 and 57% in 2009, has awarded Linda Lea Viken AFP, the president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. It's not just the legal profession to be welcomed in a country that counts normally breaks matrimonial 4.95 per 1000 inhabitants each year. World record is almost two and a half times more than in France. The upswing of the "separations" better expresses the country's economic health.If the Americans dare to part again is that they feel strong enough to face a financially costly operation.

Cheers flexibility, spring's traditional America, its prosperity and its mores, whether contracts of employment or marriage. United States, the standard is ten times change employer in his life, likes to recall former President Bill Clinton. This is much less in Europe.A study of the ad hoc International Labour Office, the German spends an average of 10.7 years in the same company and the French 11.3 years.

More than one in two marriages ends in divorce

For their part the French would they be more mobile in their private lives and in their professional life? That is what the sociologist Jean Viard says: our countrymen remain in their seven years and twelve couples with the same employer, had launched the author of In Praise of mobility, at a conference of parliamentarians UMP shocked by such a revelation . These statistics do were confirmed either by INED, National Institute of Demographic Studies, or by INSEE, the trend is real and underlined.

To judge the divorces in France, it is obviously misleading to report their number (130,601 voted in 2009) to that of marriages in the same year (251,478).And conclude that "more than one in two marriages ends in divorce." This rate of "divorce", a term the Ministry of Justice does not provide information on behavioral changes. Demographers proceed otherwise. They restore, generation after generation, the fate of unions. According to figures provided by France Prioux, a demographer at INED, 30% of marriages registered in 1970 ended in divorce, and this rate has steadily increased. It was 40% for marriages contracted in 1986 and 43% for married year 1992 payday loans with no fax. These projections, we said France Prioux only way to compare the routes, not yet complete, of generations as far as 1970 and 1992.

The side of the job market, things seem less clear.INSEE has just informed us that in 2009, 42.1% of employed persons in the same company for over ten years, all sectors combined (a photograph of the labor market in 2009). With peaks at 50.2% in industry and 57.3% for farmers. The crisis has prompted employees to remain in their company when they have not been dislodged by a "social plan". They were only 41.8% have a tenure exceeding ten years in 2008.

Since the early 1970s, couples and laws governing the Labour Code have embarked on a bizarre chase. The great divorce reform of 1975, establishing the procedure by mutual consent, was followed in 1979, still under the seven-Giscard d'Estaing, the introduction of fixed term contracts (CDD).In 1999, the creation of the PACS (Civil Solidarity Pact) offered a substitute for marriage, including homosexuals. Then the new simplified procedures for divorce in 2004 encouraged Florence Parisot, the president of MEDEF, in 2007 to ask (and get) a "divorce by mutual consent" between the company and the employee. But for now, advantage to love, including leases, more and more temporary, could in future be shorter than the labor contracts.

Ode to mobility

This hymn to mobility also money, third vital point of the triangle. "It is easier to change bank woman, ironically there are still some great banker instead. He stigmatized the administrative complexities inherent in this kind of operation.This is less true since the legal obligation in 2008 to establish a service in each establishment of "mobility aid" to its customers.

As for transport, their progress is measured in kilometers. In 1950, every French walked five kilometers a day, while he performs now 45, likes to emphasize the sociologist Jean Viard. Unfortunately, the ease of such material has to travel daily to more expensive counterpart perverse unprecedented housing in downtown. "There all is order and beauty, luxury, calm and pleasure", but inaccessible to the homeless near ", which should mobilize their time and energy to get to the grind. Should there be one day avoided the elevators in the big cities in order to reintroduce a social mix? In the nineteenth century, the less fortunate living on the upper floors where they climbed on foot. A lesser evil.

Intel processor spends to 3D

6th May

Intel takes a step back to get a place in the market of smartphones and touch pads. Wednesday night, the U.S. group announced the launch of a new generation of processors manufactured in three dimensions, which must make greater performance without increasing power consumption. "We have once again reinvented the transistor, welcomed Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel.

Transistors are like switches. They were so far consist of a stack of layers in two dimensions. The upper part acts as a "gate", which passes or blocks the flow between two components of the lower layers, the source and drain. But as the size of transistors has been reduced to a few nanometers, the conductive material between these elements are also refined, increasing the risk of current leakage.To remedy this, it needed to increase consumption.

The development cost under control

Faced with this challenge, Intel has changed its manufacturing process by embedding a thin part of the lower layer in the "gate" located above (see chart below). Thus, the current control can be done in three tranches of the fin, instead of one. "This allows the transmission of as much current as possible when the transistor is in active mode (in order of performance) and as close to zero as possible when it is in off mode (to reduce power consumption)," says Intel .

With this new architecture, the current control is performed on three slices (yellow).

Japan: production and consumption fall

28th April

The earthquake of magnitude 9 followed by a giant tsunami that devastated Japan on March 11 last weigh heavily on the Japanese economy. Japanese factory output has fallen by 15.3% compared to February, the highest since the introduction of this indicator in 1953.

The industrial base has been hit hard by the disaster. The automotive sector is one of the most affected by the earthquake. Several subcontractors parts are indeed more able to provide builders, who are forced to reduce their rates of assembly sites. The automotive industry has seen its output fall by nearly half in March, components and cars combined.

And this sector, hit by supply disruptions affecting production lines in Europe and the United States is not alone in suffering from the brunt of the disaster.Thus, "the damage in semiconductors and other electronic products were higher than expected initially," said Hideki Matsumura, economist at the Research Institute of Japan.

Besides the physical destruction of plants and buildings, estimated at 210 billion euros by the authorities, shortages of electricity related to the nuclear disaster and loss of infrastructure is a real obstacle to the resumption of production rates . Thus, firms located in Tokyo and the region should not return to their consumption of electricity prior to the disaster before this summer.

Consumption lowered

Meanwhile, the Japanese have drastically reduced their spending. The average household consumption has slumped and 8.5% in March compared to the same month of 2010, a record since the inception of this indicator in 1964.The road and rail transport were disrupted for weeks, hampering the industrial logistics, and popular of the Japanese convenience stores have experienced supply problems. Moreover, the Japanese have reduced their spending "non-essential" such as recreation, buying a car or clothes.

But the Japanese economy is expected to resume next month. Thus, according to a government survey, industrial production could restart as early as April, although at moderate pace. And if automakers would suffer from lack of supply until the fall, construction, heavy industry and telecommunications will benefit from significant orders.

A view shared by the Bank of Japan (BoJ), which also put on a rebound of the economy to fall. The institution has also kept its key rate between 0% and 0.1%.The BoJ did not want to change its monetary policy on Thursday, wanting to know more precisely whether the impact of the earthquake of March 11 may jeopardize the return of the economy to a moderate recovery.

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The Cac 40 in net loss of speed

18th April

Despite the good performance on Wall Street Friday, the CAC 40, after having opened down slightly, fell sharply now. At mid-session, the Paris index coward 3932.42 points to 1.06%.

At the London Stock Exchange, the FTSE-100 lost 0.73% to 5952.23 points, about the German Dax 30, it declined from 0.88% to 7115.04 points.

For their part, Asian stock markets evolve without much direction. The Nikkei remains stable and the Chinese financial markets are showing tentative gains.

In the absence of macroeconomic indicators on Monday in France and the United States, the news companies will punctuate the financial markets.

The Minister of Economy and Finance, Christine Lagarde, said Monday morning on LCI that restructure debts European (Greek, Irish and Portuguese) would be "catastrophic."The financial sector shows the largest decreases the Cac 40: 2.98% Credit Agricole cowardly to 10.92 euros, Axa dropped 2.64% to 14.91 euros, Societe Generale yield 2.96% to 43.88 euros, BNP Paribas was down 2.11% to 51 euros and Natixis down 2.30% to 3.87 euros.

Veolia: -2.11% to 21.58 euros

The socialist president of the Urban Community of Montbéliard, Pierre Moscovici, has decided to break the contract between Veolia region until 2022.Prices – between 3 and 3.40 euros per cubic meter – is considered too high.

Total: -1.50% to 41.05 euros

The Secretary General of the Organization of Petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) Abdullah El Badri said that OPEC countries were "concerned" about the high prices, adding that markets were adequately supplied.

Nuclear Power Plants: Proglio quiet game

EDF: -1.68% to 26.68 euros

In an interview with Le Figaro Economie, CEO of EDF, Henri Proglio, assured that the electrical power "are in excellent condition." It states that EDF will have to invest 8 billion euros in 2011 in France alone.An amount "considerable," said he.

France Telecom: -0.51% to 15.56 euros

France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom will share parts of their mobile networks in Poland, Austria and Romania, anticipating savings of 650 million euros by 2015, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Vivendi: -0.71% to 20.14 euros

Vivendi incur a syndicated loan of three billion euros to finance the acquisition of 44% stake in SFR, Vodafone, said Friday banking sources.

Publicis: +0 payday loans no teletrack.11% to EUR 38

Publicis announced the sale of its majority stake in the British agency Freud Communications PR she has held since 2005.The group did not specify the amount of the transaction.

Air France-KLM: -0.95% to 11.45 euros

Pierre-Henri Gourgeon could be renewed this summer at the head of Air France-KLM, but perhaps only for half a term of two years to allow the emergence of a successor, according to Liberation.

Ipsen: -0.13% to EUR 26

The pharmaceutical company Ipsen will pay up to 200 million euros to Swedish Active Biotech under a partnership set up to co-develop and market a new drug for treating prostate cancer, they announced Monday.

Aeroports de Paris: -0.24% to 62.17 euros

Aeroports de Paris has reported an 0.8% increase in traffic at airports of Charles de Gaulle and Orly, an increase of 3.9% in the first quarter.

Transgene: +2.49% to 12.75 euros

Transgene announced Monday the signing of a partnership with ChronTech Pharma AB and Inovio Pharmaceuticals to clinically assess a new strategy for therapeutic vaccination against hepatitis C.

Argan: -0.29% to 13.73 euros

Argan has announced that its capital increase with preferential subscription rights (DPS) had been subscribed to the tune of 182.51%, thus allowing the real estate company specializing in logistics real estate to raise 35 million euros .

Eurotunnel: -0.01% to 7.20 euros

The operator of the Channel Tunnel has increased by 24% of its turnover in the first quarter to 179.2 million euros, according to a statement released Monday.

Quarterly publications to follow

Some quarterly sales are also scheduled on Monday., Guyenne et Gascogne (turnover in the first quarter) and Manutan International (turnover of the second quarter), and Edenred, Audika (turnover in the first quarter), Soitec (turnover in the fourth quarter) after market. Le Noble Age Theolia and publish them on their fourth quarter results.

On the currency markets, the euro fell slightly against the dollar at 1.4372 dollar.

Oil prices were trending lower Monday in electronic trading in Asia on profit taking after last week's gains, dealers said. In morning trading, a barrel of light sweet crude for May delivery yielded 70 cents to 108.96 dollars. That of Brent North Sea crude for June delivery retreated 42 cents to $ 123.03.

The new housing market in search of balance

27th March

The Scellier and falling interest rates pushed the market last year. With 117,000 new homes sold in 2010, activity was tonic (+ 13% over the previous year), even if sales do not reach the peak of 127,000 units in 2007. But the market is unbalanced. "There has never been as rental investments. They represent an average of 63% of sales. In contrast, home ownership is at its lowest with only 37% of sales, "says Marc Pigeon, president of the Federation of developers. Investors have rushed into effect on the Scellier with tax cut to 25%, before it may suffer the stroke plane of 10% and is two-tiered, depending on whether the building is certified BBC or not (low-energy building).In some cities such as Lille and Montpellier, the share of sales has exceeded 80% Scellier, while at Lyon and Bordeaux, it was 74%. The never-seen!

Nobody has escaped the rising prices: + 6.5% nationally, with a strong contrast between the province (4%) and Ile-de-France (+9.8%), some departments as the Hauts-de-Seine exceeding 10%. In 2011, the real estate landscape could change, however, and reverse, with an increase in the share of buyers.

Promote homeownership

PTZ + Uncapped resources and strengthened at the tense areas, expands the customer."Through our call center, which receives about 100,000 calls per year and gives us the pulse of the market, we find that those who had lost the urge to buy want to take advantage of this new measure still accompanied by attractive rates" , noted Philippe Josse, Director General of Housing Bouygues Immobilier. Cogedim, the specialist for high-end, is also optimistic. "Our two slots will continue to do well: first-time buyers being driven by sustained demand and government measures strengthened, and upmarket city is maintained by the shortage and the demand of customers selling a well back into the periphery to the center, said Christian de Gournay, CEO of Cogedim. Our arrival on the market for first-time buyers is accompanied by our signature.We want to keep the quality Cogedim with a "plus" in terms of architecture, decoration lobbies … These elements are part of our "brand equity" to buyers as municipalities. "But if the PTZ + expands the target, stopping the pass-Land, which gave entitlement to VAT at 5.5%, however, will penalize some purchasers in the provinces.

The market for the second assumption, excluding very high end, is not as privileged. Even if banks make it easier for bridging loans, the appetite of buyers may be hampered by shortages of goods and property, the continued rise in prices and the rising cost of credit. But we reassured Serge Grzybowski, President Icade, "early this year, the market took a breather. He leaves quietly.Besides, statistically, the first quarter is still quite soft, buyers positioning itself more from the month of April. " And, adds Corint Bruno, Managing Director of Nexity pole housing, "the rate of flow of the programs were very strong last year-five to six months in the provinces, three months in Ile-de-France-, l The offer is very low and directly affects demand, which awaits the launch of new programs. "

A study of Nexity in 2010 land costs represented 32.4% of the price of a home in Paris and Hauts-de-Seine, 20.10% on the rest of the Ile-de-France and 16.60% in the regions. A cost that has risen from 20 to 30% in eighteen months, sometimes longer, for lack of available land.

Promoters rush all on the same urban land and engage in a strong bidding war. Many people respond to municipal clinics."We respond when the criteria of location, architecture and project quality are met, said Olivier Mitterrand, CEO of New Builders. We note that some municipalities are very interventionist housing typologies. Some want to attract a young population, and want 2 and 3units, others families with generous surfaces, which is more sensitive compared to the solvency of the buyers. "We are bidding for at controlled prices to avoid escalation, "proclaims Berthière Francis, president of Bouygues Immobilier.

The fluidity of supply and stop land speculation going through the release of land. Appeared Benoist, Secretary of State for Housing, has promised to mobilize the public land. And the Federation of developers calls for measures to limit the abusive use of freezing operations.But, insists Marc Pigeon, "build a city on the city is not enough. Only 8% of the territory is urbanized, which allows the development of new spaces. "

In this context, and given the additional construction costs due to standards BBC, rising prices should be around 5 to 6% this year. Professionals remain optimistic: "2010 was exceptional, but 2011 will be strong, driven by demand, with a new race at the end of the year on investments in Scellier, including taxation will be trimmed again," says Jean-Philippe Bourgade , chairman of Bouwfonds Marignan.

The administration listens to grievances of SMEs

5th March

Frédéric Lefebvre, Secretary of State for SMEs, has launched yesterday a regional basis for the simplification preparing a national conference to be held mid-April in Paris. He had already met the end of January hundred correspondents SMEs appointed by the administration. The latter, one per department, are responsible for interviewing 500-1000 entrepreneurs back to their grievances. Questionnaires were also sent to employers of OFWs and SMEs to better understand their needs. The major national conference will summarize these grievances then to propose corrective measures.

Frédéric Lefebvre was yesterday at Compiegne (Oise) for the first regional meeting bringing together business leaders and state officials. He visited the company Techni Metal (15 million euros in turnover, 120 employees) whose boss has presented a very concrete way its administrative difficulties."I hope that the texts were written taking into account their impact on SMEs, that laws and other regulations are published at fixed dates, once per quarter, for example," said Bernard Lamb, CEO of the company . "I also support the establishment of a single portal for all tenders as is done in Germany. Finally, avoid the transposition of European directives only serves French companies against their European competitors. "Frederic Lefebvre then met sixty patrons and leaders of professional organizations in the sub-prefecture of Compiegne. He listened to their grievances at length on taxation, the creation and life of the company.Other similar meetings will be held in 21 regions.

'Act quickly'

The UMP of the Ardennes, Jean-Luc Warsmann, president of the Law Committee of the National Assembly and co-chair of national conference alongside Jean-Michel Aulas, president of Cegid and Olympique Lyonnais, was present. The MP, who is on a mission on this subject by the President, will present its report in late March. Legislation should be introduced this summer. "I wish the government, Parliament and business work hand in hand. We want to move quickly, "said Frederic Lefebvre.

The foundation for simplification are welcomed by professional organizations that condemn the proliferation of texts in all areas, whether social, environmental, procurement or safety. CGPME has already submitted 60 proposals.The chamber also recommends action. For example in the field of taxation or for exports to the DOM.

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Tunisia: French tourists back on Monday

16th January

The return of French tourists stranded in Tunisia began Saturday and will pick up Sunday with the chartering of twelve additional aircraft by tour operators to repatriate most of the vacationers who want the end of the weekend. "Much effort has been made by tour operators with twelve additional flights" in addition to regularly scheduled rotations, told AFP Rene-Marc Chikli, president of the association of tour operators Ceto.

Saturday morning, Rene-Marc Chikli believed that these early returns would spill over the weekend several days, considering the logistical problems faced by tour operators, between keeping the curfew in Tunisia and difficulties to find aircraft, crews and slots flights. Finally, the situation has released over the hours, especially in the afternoon."Basically, 100% of customers will be back Sunday night for most major tour operators, subject to external events," he said Saturday evening. "Substantially all" of French tourists stranded in Tunisia will be returned Monday, said Sunday the National Union of Travel Agents (SNAV).

Travel agencies have thus repatriate by Sunday evening the two-thirds of their 8,000 clients present Friday in Tunisia, according to figures from the State Secretariat of Tourism. For those who want to stay, said Rene-Marc Chikli, "we did sign a waiver."

Departures remain suspended

Repatriate as much guests simultaneously request to establish a well-oiled logistics, routing passengers from their hotel on arrival in France. "We do not start with an airplane like a car.It is not enough to go to the garage and put the key in the ignition, "says Jean-Pierre Mas, co-president of the network of travel agencies" AS Travel (Afat and Selectour), which has 1,500 customers in Tunisia payday loan.

Thomas Cook France (700 customers), Fram (1,600 customers), New Frontiers (200), Marmara (790 customers) have confirmed their aim was to repatriate passengers Sunday night unless unexpected. "If flights do not land in France in the airport of departure we will organize post-delivery" by bus or train, said Marmara. Club Med, which has only one village open right now, has finally found airline seats for its 130 customers and 35 "GO" Europe of 91 that the operator has decided to repatriate. "For the French, who bought a flight, travel agents are mobilized to locate them …which is not easy with the difficulties of mobile telephony in Tunisia, "says Jean-Pierre Mas.

All departures from vacationers to Tunisia remain suspended until Monday inclusive. The tour will then decide depending on the situation in the country to extend or not the freeze starts. Friday night, the Quai d'Orsay has indeed advised all non-emergency travel to Tunisia. For customers who are not parties, proposals to postpone travel, without charge, at a later date on Tunisia or wherever made.The events in Tunisia under the case of "force majeure", professionals find themselves "freed from their traditional obligations to people traveling or refund if there is a change," told AFP Emmanuelle Llop, Lawyer specialized.

"They do not offer refunds spontaneously because they do not always this possibility, including travel agents who have more funds," she says.

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Twitter: no sale or IPO of

8th January

No sale or IPO for Twitter. Its CEO Dick Costolo, wants his site microblogging is "an independent company succeed."

"We feel we have done only 1% of what we do and we have all this potential nutcase," he argued at a conference held on the sidelines of the grand salon of consumer electronics (CES) in Las Vegas.He spoke of "a series of Opportunity", in particular to be present in an increasing number of devices and platforms.

Asked about a possible IPO, the manager says he does not think at the moment: "I am sure we will reach a stage where you have to start thinking we have a number of shareholders and some things have more meaning, but we're not there yet. "

Bubble on social networks, the SEC gets involved

These comments come when a real bubble is created around social networks, Twitter and Facebook in mind.These companies are not yet publicly traded, are subject to massive flows of investment at which the shares, whose price rises, circulating on the "gray market".

The intensity of trade has obviously aroused the curiosity of Constable American Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) payday loans.Its rules already provides that a private company must have fewer than 500 shareholders not to be compelled to publicize its financial information.

According to the latest figures obtained by the press, Facebook, which has half a billion subscribers have made profits of $ 355 million in the first nine months of 2010, for a turnover of 1.2 billion.

Facebook, now valued at some $ 50 billion, which received another 500 million dollars in funding from Goldman Sachs and Russian Sky Digital Technology, Twitter has obtained 200 million last month. The site is, it is valued at $ 3.7 billion.

Twitter claims some 175 million active users, and some 25 billion messages, called "tweets," sent through its service in 2010.It launched last year sponsored a messaging system, which brings in advertising revenue and says Costolo walk "fantastically well".

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Renault: the government speaks of a "serious business"

6th January

The 54,000 French employees of Renault are in shock. Three senior leaders of the group are suspected of having disclosed information on its future electric vehicles outside, according to internal sources. They were laid off Monday, said the executive, who cited "revelations of serious undermining strategic interests, intellectual and technological enterprise." This Thursday on RTL, the Industry Minister, Eric Besson, J. Case "serious" and said that "economic war" is adapted to this situation.

The case of industrial espionage revealed by AFP, whose magnitude is unprecedented at Renault, is something of an earthquake. One of the defendants on the committee steering group, which has twenty-seven members and is chaired by Carlos Ghosn, the CEO.This, according to several sources, Michel Balthazar, director of the division upstream projects and services, joined Renault thirty years ago. One of his subordinates, director of advanced vehicle projects, has also been incriminated and laid off. This branch is located in the heart of the group's strategy, since it is responsible to reflect on future vehicles, including electric cars.

The third part involved is attached to a division just as sensitive, the "plan, product and program." Unlike the other two, he worked exclusively on electric vehicles, as deputy director of the project.

Is unprecedented in this type of case, the three suspects were on foot the same day. Everything leads us to believe they were operating in concert. It could then be an organized system of selling information to the outside.The question remains who and why. A nearby industrial Renault ahead two tracks. A competitor or supplier may have been interested in the progress of Renault-Nissan in the development of its battery power. Another avenue: information on the electric motor development.

No complaint

The facts alleged against the three executives from Renault to go back this summer. In late August 2010, a "whistleblowing" was brought to the attention of the Ethics Committee at Renault, says the manufacturer. "The investigation that followed led to a layoff conservatory" of these people early in the week. These executives were ordered Monday to leave the field office. A layoff conservatory allows a company to dismiss an employee poses a risk to its operations, pending disciplinary action.The group has so far not complained.

"We feel it's a nightmare and that we will wake up," said one employee. This story is even more traumatic than the electric vehicle is the flagship project of the group, through which – with its ally Nissan – Renault wants to create a similar break with what had been successful with his Toyota Prius hybrid. Renault-Nissan wants to become the world leader in power, which he says represent 10% of global sales in 2020. In total, the group has invested 4 billion on this program. Renault will launch four electric vehicles over the period 2011-2012: Utility Kangoo Fluence family sedan, the compact and Zoe quadricycle Twizy.

The automotive industry is yet deemed to be one of the most secretive, as sales depend on technological advances.PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault are also the first patent applicants in France, with respectively 1265 and 906 recorded in 2009. Already, more than 200 patents have been filed by Renault or are being considered solely on the electric vehicle. Nearly 1,700 engineers working on this project this year Technocentre at Guyancourt.

The electric heater is one of the most sensitive areas. Nissan has a joint venture with Japan's NEC to develop and manufacture the key component, which is the subject of a global battle. Renault-Nissan leading the way with 1.5 billion euros invested in the battery before its competitors Chinese, Korean, American, Japanese and German, according to Roland Berger.The Franco-Japanese targets a production capacity of 500,000 cars and electric batteries per year in 2013.

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