Renault SA is trying to strengthen its electric-vehicle business at a time of flagging demand by building up its footprint in a country where it doesn’t even sell cars — China…The French automaker is turning to one of the few markets where battery-powered cars are selling well to access new technology and learn how to make EVs faster. The company has hired some 200 people in Shanghai, mainly hardware engineers working on the development of a sub-€20,000 ($21,106) electric Twingo, and also plans to onboard software engineers, according to people familiar with the situation…Renault’s decision to develop much of its new Twingo in China has been criticized internally, and the manufacturer also employs about 3,000 product engineers in India…Renault is betting on its electric €25,000 R5 city car to bolster sales in the near term, and in 2025 plans to introduce models including an electric version of the 1960s-era 4L economy car and the sub-€35,000 R4…Renault plans to deploy the lessons learned in China in its home market. Chief Executive Officer Luca de Meo is attempting to make affordable EVs in France, where labor costs are relatively high…“We are catching up and we are accessing technology bricks more quickly,” Provost said. “By 2026, our competitiveness — in terms of software, in terms of batteries — will be comparable to that of Chinese manufacturers building locally in Europe.”

India plans to expand electric vehicle incentives to automakers building models at existing factories in the country, instead of limiting the benefits to automakers willing to build new plants, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said…India's EV policy, which is still being finalised, was originally designed to encourage Tesla to enter the market and manufacture locally but the U.S. automaker backed off from those plans earlier this year…It is hoped that changes to the policy will encourage EV investment from the likes of Toyota and Hyundai, the source said…Under the policy announced in March, an automaker investing at least $500 million to manufacture EVs in India with 50% of components sourced locally is entitled to a huge cut on import taxes - a drop to 15% from as high as 100% for up to 8,000 electric cars per year.