Change gear. This is what French companies specializing in bicycles are dreaming of, at a time when the craze for this means of transport is confirmed. A success corroborated by the excellent scores of the congress of the Federation of Bicycle Users (FUB), which took place from Thursday to Saturday, in Tours: the event brought together 680 exhibitors, a record.
The fiasco of the relocation of Mercier cycles in the Ardennes
The bet is high, especially since the year 2021 was marked by a resounding fiasco in terms of the relocation of bicycle production. A year ago, businessman Jean-Marc Seghezzi announced the relaunch of the manufacture of Mercier cycles in Revin, an Ardennes town very largely affected by deindustrialisation. A project with 270 jobs and supported by generous government aid, the promise of which was confirmed in March, during the visit, on site, of Jacqueline Gourault, the Minister of Territorial Cohesion.
→ INVESTIGATION. When the cargo bike comes to town
During the summer, the economic miracle turned into a nightmare, when the prefect announced that “State services have identified facts serious enough to consider in liability that it is not possible to commit public money”, plunging the region and local elected officials into deep anger. It appears that Jean-Marc Seghezzi is the subject of a preliminary investigation for tax evasion and that “the proceeds of these frauds would have been laundered by networks of offshore companies”, according to Bercy.
Multiple Orders
Unremarkable, the failure did not alter the enthusiasm of LREM deputy Guillaume Gouffier-Cha, who this week submitted his mission report on the economic sector of cycling in France. Today, of the 2.7 million bicycles sold in France each year, only a quarter are assembled there.
“We need a sector committee that can discuss with the public authorities and the other sectors, automotive and aeronautics in particular, argues the chosen one. Because that’s how you get better parts and technological breakthroughs. »
For manufacturers, group purchases could be considered for certain parts, such as hydraulic brakes or electric motors. By ordering several, they would increase the volumes to be supplied and would arouse the interest of suppliers, currently concentrated on other sectors, as is currently Valeo towards the automobile.
A credible strategy for the most technological parts, those with lower added value being destined to be shipped by Asian countries, as are the vast majority of bicycle components today.
Involve cycle path developers
The industrial sector, which currently employs 4,000 people, could rise to 20,000 within ten years and 45,000 in 2050, according to the report by Guillaume Gouffier-Cha. A number to be multiplied by two if we include all the actors of a sector for which the FUB hopes to create the committee next summer: a structure “who must go from the cycle path to the cargo bike”according to its president, and bring together building and public works giants like Vinci and Colas at its table.
The report recommends increasing the active mobility fund of the cycling plan, launched in 2018, to the tune of 400 million euros to finance infrastructure, “i.e. €30 per inhabitant and per year”according to Guillaume Gouffier-Cha.
While credits have been released through calls for projects launched over the past three years, the long technical examination often delays the work. For example, local authorities come up against the possibility of covering cycle paths with bitumen, when these cross Natura 2000 areas, while the climate and resilience law sets the objective of zero net artificialisation of the soil.
These technical hassles do not make us lose sight of the benefit that public finances would derive from a massive conversion of the French to the little queen. As Guillaume Gouffier-Cha reminds us, “Ten kilometers by bicycle carried out every day by a single person generates €2,700 in savings in health expenditure”.