FRENCH CARMAKER Renault suspects that three managers suspended for alleged industrial espionage were supplying details on the company’s electric car programme to China, reports suggested yesterday.
French intelligence services were investigating China’s possible role in the spy scandal that industry minister Eric Besson described as “economic warfare”, Le Figaro reported, citing a number of sources in Renault.
The company, which is 15 per cent owned by the French state, has said three employees, including a member of the management committee, were suspended on Monday after its “strategic, intellectual and technological assets” had been targeted, but did not say who might have benefited from the spying.
The secrets allegedly leaked relate to an electric car programme in which Renault, along with its Japanese partner Nissan, has invested some €4 billion.
The firm has staked its future on electric cars and plans to launch several models by 2014 to meet rising demand for “green” transport.
The three employees are alleged to have sold new patents not yet registered to one or several intermediaries.
“This is an economic war . . . a war without an image and without a face,” said Bernard Carayon, a member of the ruling UMP. “It is a war which does not stop growing and which has intensified even more with the emergence of new industrial powers like China.”
France’s huge car industry, which employs some 10 per cent of the country’s workforce, has previously been targeted by industrial spies, with both parts manufacturer Valeo and tyremaker Michelin affected.
Relations between France and China were strained until recently after President Nicolas Sarkozy criticised Beijing’s policy on Tibet. But a successful visit by Chinese president Hu Jintao last November has signalled warmer relations.
Having taken over the rotating presidency of the G20, France is hoping to secure Chinese support for ambitious reforms of the global monetary system.
Mr Carayon, who is drafting a law on the protection of economic information, said France needed tougher laws against industrial espionage to defend itself in a “war” against fast-growing emerging economies hungry for new technologies.
China, where vehicle exhaust emissions account for about 70 per cent of air pollution in major cities, is pushing green cars heavily as part of the development of its industry.
Mr Carayon added that the industries most at risk from spying in France were those with long development times such as cars, pharmaceuticals and defence.
Mr Besson said France was the target of economic war and called for firms that receive state aid for research and development to boost their protection against industrial espionage.
The AFP news agency quoted a source in the ministry saying: “We cannot accept that an innovation financed by the French taxpayer ends up in the hands of the Chinese.”
France has often been accused of being involved in industrial espionage of its own. A United States diplomatic cable published earlier this week quoted the head of a German company saying that, for economic spying, France was the world’s biggest offender.