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PARIS — The French government said Thursday that it would seek to bolster secrecy rules for industrial companies after the automaker Renault suspended at least three executives who are suspected of compromising its electric car technology.
France’s industry minister, Éric Besson, said in an interview with RTL, a radio station, that the affair appeared “serious and again highlights the risks that our companies face from industrial spying.”
While few details about the incident at Renault are known at this point, Mr. Besson said the case appeared to involve the company’s electric car technology. “There’s a broad danger for French industry,” he said, adding the phrase “economic war” was appropriate in this case.
He declined to elaborate further, except to say that the government would be working with French companies that receive state aid to reinforce the security surrounding their industrial secrets.
A spokeswoman for Renault, Frédérique Le Grèves, said she could not comment because an internal review was under way.
She did, however, confirm that three employees had been suspended Monday after an internal investigation that began in August turned up “very severe” violations of Renault policy.
“What they did was very severe,” Ms. Le Grèves said, without elaborating. “It wasn’t just a case of them giving pictures to the media, for instance,” she said.
She would not identify the three employees involved, but Renault said at least one of the three sat on Renault’s management committee. Definitive sanctions and the question of criminal proceedings against the executives have yet to be confirmed.
The spokeswoman could not confirm whether case involved Renault’s electric car or battery technology. Both Renault and an official from the office of Mr. Besson, the minister, declined to identify the entity that may have received the information from the employees.
Renault is the second-largest automaker in France after PSA Peugeot Citroën. Both companies have bet heavily on electric technology to bolster future revenue and to ease concerns about emissions from combustions engines.
With its partner Nissan of Japan, Renault is investing 4 billion euros, or $5.2 billion, to develop electric cars and is leading the push for electric vehicles in Europe. Many European countries are offering significant tax incentives for sales.
Renault owns more than 43 percent of Nissan, while Nissan owns more than 14 percent of Renault. The French government is the largest shareholder in Renault, with slightly more than 15 percent. In 2009, Paris loaned Renault and Peugeot 3 billion euros each over five years.
The Nissan Leaf, a plug-in electric car, was introduced in the United States and Japan last year, and will start selling this year in Britain, Portugal, Ireland and the Netherlands. Other major Western European markets to follow.
Renault will introduce three electric cars in Europe this year: a sedan, built in Turkey; a light commercial vehicle, made in France; and an urban car, from Spain. Next year it plans to offer a compact, called the Zoë, based on Renault’s Clio.
General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid electric car, was introduced last year. Ford Motor is planning to roll out an electric version of the Ford Focus on Friday in Las Vegas.
Renault says that its alliance with Nissan makes it the only global player with a full range of electric cars and batteries produced in-house. Renault had 1,400 engineers and technicians working on electric vehicles at its Guyancourt campus near Paris at the end of 2010, and it expects that number to rise to 1,700 by end-2011.
Nissan and NEC, the Japanese electronics company, have a venture to make electric batteries. Renault is employing the same technology, but is also developing second- and third-generation battery technology on its own. Renault will make electric batteries at plants in Britain, Portugal and France.
There have been similar industrial espionage cases in France in recent years. In 2007, a Chinese woman was convicted of stealing confidential computer data from the research and development division of Valeo, a major French car parts maker, while on a student internship.
The Norwegian publication Aftenposten this week published documents from 2009, obtained via Wikileaks, citing German complaints about French government meddling in its commercial space industry.
One cable from the United States embassy in Berlin said that German space agency was taking steps to repel French interference in Germany’s electro-optical imagery satellite development by forming strategic alliances between OHB-System of Germany and the German portion of Astrium.
By: Matthew Saltmarsh (ny times)
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