President Nicolas Sarkozy of France on Tuesday used the unveiling of a successor to his country’s TGV train to question the right of the world’s largest trainmaker to access the French market.

In a speech at the launch of the new AGV high-speed train, developed by France’s Alstom, Mr Sarkozy departed from his prepared text to question the right of Canada’s Bombardier to sell trains in France after Alstom was initially excluded from bidding for a Montreal metro contract.