Renault's operating profit margin reached a record high in the first half of the year, and the sales prospect of electric vehicles is promising.

CTOnews.com, July 27 (Xinhua)-- French carmaker Renault today reported an operating profit margin of 7.6% for the first half of the year, the highest ever and close to its profit margin target for 2025. The company said the result was due to higher prices for new cars and lower production costs.

▲ Touyuan Pexels Renault made a net profit of 2.12 billion euros in the first six months (CTOnews.com Note: currently about 16.769 billion yuan), turning a loss into a profit. Renault lost 1.68 billion euros (currently about 13.289 billion yuan) in the same period last year, mainly because it closed its business in the Russian market after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

"these results are the result of our continuous efforts to reduce costs over the past three years and the combination of our focus on value strategy and unprecedented product offensives," Renault Chief Executive Luca de Meo said in a statement.

Renault's previous profit margin record was 7 per cent in the second half of 2017, while Renault aims to reach 8 per cent by 2025 and 10 per cent by 2030.

Renault also said that the improvement in performance also benefited from higher car prices, and pointed out that the sales prospects of its electric vehicles are promising.

CTOnews.com had previously reported that Renault and Nissan reached a new agreement yesterday on their decades-old partnership and kept their cross-shareholdings equal, while Nissan would invest $663 million (currently about 4.74 billion yuan) in Ampere, Renault's spun-off electric vehicles division.