"We may seek state guarantees like other companies," Senard was quoted as saying by the French daily. Invoking the last global financial crisis, when Renault received a 3 billion euro ($3.2 billion) government loan, Senard said a renationalisation was "not on the agenda" as things stand.

"Remember that in 2008-2009 we never got to that point," he said, adding that orders for some models were currently down 90%.

(Reporting by Gwenaelle Barzic and Laurence Frost; Editing by Susan Fenton)