Renault committed to stronger alliance with Nissan, chairman says

Renault plans to strengthen its collaboration with alliance partners Nissan and Mitsubishi even as it undertakes a major overhaul itself, Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard said in interviews with Japanese media. 

Among the areas where the three automakers will seek more commonalities to increase profits include platform sharing, electric vehicles and the Chinese market. 

"In a very few years, more than seven million cars in the alliance will be manufactured [from] common platforms, and the commonality of parts is to reach 75-85 percent," Senard said in an online interview with Nikkei Asia last week. 

Under Renault Group’s “Renaulution” plan that was presented Thursday by CEO Luca de Meo, the percentage of vehicles on three common platforms among alliance members will be 80 percent in 2025, compared to 39 percent in 2020.

There will be three main platforms: CMF-B/EV, for small and electric cars, at around three million per year; CMF-CD, for compact and midsize cars, also at three million; and CMF-EV, for compact and midsize electric vehicles, at 700,000 vehicles per year.

Senard said doing business in China remained a priority for Renault, where it has struggled for years and halted passenger car sales and production last year. "The electric car will be a major support" in gaining ground in China, the world's largest auto market, he told Nikkei. 

Renault is currently focusing its China efforts on the K-ZE, an electric vehicle, as well as on the production of light commercial vehicles. The French automaker launched the K-ZE in China in 2019, selling 2,658 that year. 

Renault also plans to export electric vehicles that it makes in China to Europe under the Dacia brand, its unit based in Romania. Senard did not say if that extended beyond plans to export the Dacia Spring EV, a derivative of the K-ZE. The car is built in Shiyan, China, at a factory that is part of the eGT joint venture that includes Renault, Dongfeng Motor and Nissan. It is also sold in China under the Venucia and Aeolus brands.

The Renault-Nissan alliance was formed in 1999 when Renault acquired a controlling stake in then-struggling Nissan. It sustained a major blow when Chairman and Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn was arrested in Japan on charges of financial misconduct. The arrest exposed deep rifts between Renault and Nissan, and both companies recorded losses in 2019 and 2020 amid management turmoil. 

Leadership appears to have stabilized under Senard and de Meo at Renault, and Makoto Uchida and Ashwani Gupta at Nissan. 

The alliance revised its strategy in early 2020, moving to “leader-follower” model that gives Renault or Nissan primary responsibility for regions and segments. For example, Renault will lead Europe and develop small cars and commercial vans, while Nissan will handle China and larger SUVs.  

Renault holds 43.4 percent of Nissan, while Nissan owns 15 percent of its French partner. Mitsubishi joined the alliance in 2016 after Nissan took a minority but controlling stake.