I segreti dell’auto elettrica Renault a chi interessavano? Alla Cina. Questa la pista seguita dal governo francese dopo aver intercettato tre dirigenti dell’azienda che stavano trafugando i segreti. L’articolo del Guardian del 7.1.2011:

Suspicions fall on China in Renault spying case

Nicolas Sarkozy orders intelligence services to find out whether Beijing was involved in stealing electric car secrets

Kim Willsher in Paris guardian.co.uk, Friday 7 January 2011 15.09 GMT Article history

Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered France’s intelligence services to investigate whether China is behind suspected industrial spying at the carmaker Renault.

A source at the Elysée palace said the secret services were “investigating a Chinese link” in the affair after the company suspended three senior executives for “very serious faults”.

All three were working on Renault’s electric car programme and one was a member of the company’s management committee.

Renault has refused to comment after the suspensions and has not confirmed reports it plans to take legal action against them.

A presidential source told Reuters the intelligence agents were “investigating a Chinese link” and the French government had warned of an “overall risk” to French industry. Renault is 15% owned by the French state.

Bernard Carayon, an MP for the ruling UMP party and a specialist in economic intelligence, said the Chinese connection was being taken seriously. “The suspicions are effectively going that way,” he told Le Figaro. “This scandal rests on a lack of sufficient preventative measures especially when certain state services, in particular the DCRI [intelligence services], are in a position to give technical advice at a high level to companies.

“I am astonished that a company as big as Renault does not have closer links to a state service known to for its excellence.”

Renault and its Japanese partner Nissan have invested €4bn (£3.4bn) in developing electric vehicles. There are plans to put three models on sale this year, with a fourth next year.

“The group [Renault] is worried about its electric programme and hopes its advance in this technology won’t be threatened,” a source told Le Figaro.

China’s output of ecological vehicles is expected to reach 1m units by 2020, according to a Beijing official. Vehicle emissions make up about 70% of air pollution in major Chinese cities.