Renault plans 800 job cuts in engineering in France

PARIS, June 24 (Reuters) - French automaker Renault Group is planning to cut 800 engineering jobs in France by the end of 2027 in a bid to make its organisation leaner to better compete with Chinese rivals.

Chinese makers have more than tripled their market share in Europe over the past two years, with technologically advanced products and very competitive prices, Philippe Brunet, Renault's chief technology officer, told reporters in a conference call.

"All other manufacturers are suffering, the Koreans, the Japanese in Europe, or other Europeans, including us," he added. "We must be able to compete against this."

With a workforce of 5,500, France accounts for half of Renault's global engineering staff. In mid-April, Renault, one of the smallest legacy car makers, said it planned to reduce its total engineering workforce by 15% to 20% by the end of 2027, and the 800 job cuts would be part of that move.

The company expects to get its transformation plan approved by unions in July and implemented from September. It would also include the retraining of 2,500 workers and between 150 and 200 new hires to work mainly on electrifying vehicles, software and artificial intelligence.

Brunet also announced an overhaul of the organisation and working methods to simplify R&D operations and become more agile in the race against Chinese competitors, who have set a new benchmark by developing models in just two years, down from the four to five years traditionally in the industry.

"My issue is speed," he said.

He intends to reduce the complexity and the number of steps in a vehicle project and decrease the time spent in meetings by 20%.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume and Inti Landauro; editing by Barbara Lewis and Cynthia Osterman)