'The Automotive Sector Is Living Through a Moment of Very Intense Transformation', Vincent Carré, Crédit Agricole Personal Finance & Mobility

Vincent Carré (E92) has spent almost his entire career in the automotive sector. After fifteen years with the Renault group, he joined Crédit Agricole Personal Finance & Mobility as director of Mobility Services. It is a vantage point from which to consider the future of an automotive industry now facing a host of challenges. 

He is not, strictly speaking, a car enthusiast. 'My move into the automotive sector came about by chance. I wanted to run companies, so I chose to focus on accounting and finance,' explains Vincent Carré. 

After an initial experience in banking with the CIC Group, he joined the giant Renault. 'I wanted to discover a more international environment.' He would spend fifteen years in total with the group, in a wide variety of roles. As Dacia's first sales director, he took part in the creation of the alliance with Nissan and then in its unwinding in 2015. 'I had the great good fortune to help build the world's leading carmaker,' he stresses. 

In 2022, he joined Crédit Agricole Personal Finance & Mobility, aware of the difficulties facing the European automotive sector. 'In a market this complicated, it's better to be on the financing side than the manufacturing side.' He adds: 'We are living through a moment of very intense transformation in the automotive sector, where the pursuit of short-term results is becoming essential in the face of a Chinese market moving at very high speed.'

A still-slow greening

In Europe and in France, the shift towards electric is under way, but the road ahead remains long. 'The link between human health and combustion-engine transport is now established. In France, 50 million tonnes of oil equivalent are consumed every year for the transport sector alone,' he points out. 

Electric is gaining ground and now accounts for 25 to 30% of new registrations. It will nonetheless take several more decades to reach all-electric in France, even though Brussels has set 2035 as the deadline for ending sales of new petrol and diesel cars. 

Two obstacles weigh on adoption: the price of new vehicles and their range. 'There is a psychological threshold, at around 600 km of range, directly linked to charging infrastructure. Below that, private buyers hesitate to take the plunge. It is Chinese innovation that is now driving the market, with vehicles henceforth capable of reaching 800 or even 900 km,' says Vincent Carré.

New patterns of use

Within Crédit Agricole Personal Finance & Mobility, he works with his teams to finance mobility in partnership with dealerships, in all its forms: credit, leasing, long-term rental, with or without a purchase option. And he observes a gradual shift in usage: 'Among private customers, 60% of financing now goes through hire purchase with a purchase option.' The advantages of the lease-purchase arrangement? 'The monthly payment is lower than repaying a loan, the customer benefits from vehicle maintenance, and they have a buy-back option every three years.'