Bolloré stops production of Bluebus electric buses in Brittany, 115 jobs threatened

The industrial future of Bluebus will be significantly reduced in Brittany. Bolloré SE announced to its employees on Tuesday a plan to permanently stop the production of electric buses at the Ergué-Gabéric site, in Finistère. This decision is accompanied by two job protection plans covering a total of 115 positions at Bluebus and its sister company Blue Solutions.

For Bluebus, the project provides for the elimination of 74 positions. Bolloré explains its decision by “a French market less dynamic than expected, marked by intense competition and strong pressure on prices”. In this context, Bluebus “did not have the sufficient size to compete with other players in the sector” and “the company noted that the conditions were no longer met to continue manufacturing sustainably”.

Part of the activity could be retained

Production must therefore stop, but part of the activities could be retained. The Bolloré group specifies that a “partial takeover of assets is being studied with a European industrial player” for research and development. An offer must be presented in the coming days to staff representatives and could allow “the transfer of 17 employment contracts”.

The group also plans to maintain a “reduced organization” in order to ensure after-sales service and monitoring of electric buses already in circulation. Nearly 700 Bluebus electric vehicles of 6 and 12 meters have been put into service in France and Europe. On Wednesday, Ile-de-France Mobilités, which is one of the company's main customers, requested "guarantees on the after-sales service of the 320 buses" purchased by the Ile-de-France transport authority.

Battery manufacturing also affected

The restructuring also concerns Blue Solutions, which manufactures lithium-metal-polymer (LMP) batteries used by buses. A second PSE provides for the elimination of 41 positions, in an environment marked, according to Bolloré SE, by the “deep difficulties of the battery and automobile sectors in Europe”.

Our file on the Bolloré group

Blue Solutions nevertheless intends to continue the development of its fourth generation of batteries. The workforce reductions should make it possible to take this Gen4 technology “to its industrialization phase alongside an investing partner”. Bolloré is thus seeking to maintain the development of this technology while ending the manufacturing of Bluebus electric buses in Ergué-Gabéric.