Groupe Renault and JMCG announce an agreement in EV on the fast-growing Chinese market, which represents today 50% of the worldwide EV market.

As part of the deal, Groupe Renault said it would take "a significant part" of JMEV, a subsidiary of JMCG and one of the main EV player in China. Groupe Renault will thus complete its offering, increase its presence in the country and further support JMEV development.

JMEV, which has produced and sold 38,000 electric cars last year, will become a joint-venture between Renault and China’s JMCG if the deal is approved by regulatory authorities next year.

The company produces cheap all-electric vehicles with relatively short to mid-range battery packs and lower power drive trains.

The move is obviously influenced by China’s aggressive zero-emission mandate, which forces automakers to have zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) represent 10% of new car sales as soon as 2019 and 12% by 2020.

By buying into this EV company, Renault is boosting its mix of EV sales in the country, which it needs since the company aims for its overall sales to grow to 400,000 vehicles per year in China.

The company has also previously announced that it will launch 3 new electric vehicles in the Chinese market and the Nissan-Renault alliance also created a separate new joint-venture to produce electric vehicles in China.