French president Nicolas Sarkozy has summoned Renault's chairman Carlos Ghosn to a meeting on Saturday over concerns that a new version of its popular Clio car might be produced in Turkey.
Sarkozy told parliamentarians on Wednesday that the state needed to defend factories and jobs but could not prevent a global company from having sites elsewhere.
"We are not putting a lot of money on the table to help our carmakers in order to see all factories go abroad," he said at a New Year's event at the Elysee palace.
"It is a matter of balance. It would be absurd to prevent a global company from creating factories elsewhere; that goes without saying," Sarkozy added.
The state has a 15.01 percent stake in Renault, a former public company, just ahead of Japanese ally Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) which owns 15 percent.
Industry Minister Christian Estrosi said the meeting on Saturday would aim to find a new way forward for the carmaker and the state, which is a 15 percent shareholder in the group.
"I want to say very clearly ... that we would not be well disposed toward a decision to have the Clio 4 mainly produced in Turkey. Decisions will come from the meeting that meet the choices that the president of the republic, as a shareholder of the Renault group, will impose upon them," Estrosi said after a meeting with Renault's chief operating officer, Patrick Pelata..
Estrosi said Pelata had pledged not to cut jobs at Flins, near Paris, the plant where an older model of the Clio is produced.
The current model of the Clio is mostly produced in factories outside France, including in Turkey. The debate now underway between Renault and the government is over where the next generation of Clios will be built.
