Renault-Nissan and Daimler to start strategic cooperation

The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler AG have reached an agreement to build up a strategic cooperation between the two groups. The deal was announced in Brussels with the companies already presenting some of the future projects. The two groups also announced an equity exchange that will give the Renault-Nissan Alliance a 3.1% stake in Daimler and Daimler a 3.1% in Renault and a 3.1% stake in Nissan.

According toDr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, “Daimler and the Renault-Nissan Alliance are combining common interests to form a promising foundation for a successful, strategically sound cooperation that is based on a number of very concrete and attractive project cooperations. Our skills complement each other very well. Right away, we are strengthening our competitiveness in the small and compact car segment and are reducing our CO2 footprint – both on a long-term basis. We know that we can make brand-typical products based on shared architectures. The individual brand identities will remain unaffected.”

Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, said: “The Renault-Nissan Alliance knows how to work successfully in collaborative partnerships, and this experience is extremely valuable in today’s and even more tomorrow’s global auto industry. This agreement will extend our strategic collaboration and create lasting value for the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler as we work on broadening and strengthening our product offering, efficiently utilizing all available resources and developing the innovative technologies required in the coming decade.”

The cooperation agreement will see the immediate start of specific projects such as the jointly development of a platform that will be used to engineer the successor of the current smart fortwo, the new smart four-seater and the next-generation Renault Twingo. The launches of these new vehicles should happen from 2013 onwards. In terms of production, the smart plant in Hambach, France will be responsible for the built of the two-seater version, while the Renault plant in Novo Mesto, Slovenia will produce the four-seater versions. All of the jointly developed models will also be available in an electric version.

Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler will also be cooperating in terms of powertrain technology with the share of fuel-efficient, diesel and gasoline engines. The Alliance will provide 3 and 4 cylinder gasoline and diesel engines out of its portfolio to Daimler, with modifications being made to adapt to Mercedes’ characteristics. This brings advantages to both sides as Daimler can grant additional sales potential for Mercedes-Benz’ future lineup of premium compact cars with the use the Alliance’s engines, while the Renault-Nissan Alliance will improve its capacity utilization.

Daimler will also be sharing its 4 and 6 cylinder gasoline and diesel engines to Infiniti. This will improve Daimler’s capacity utilization and will handle Inifiniti access to Daimler’s engines.
Although decisions will only be taken in the future Daimler, Renault and Nissan will also cooperate on future gasoline and diesel engines.

The strategic cooperation will be managed by Renault-Nissan B.V. for the Alliance and Daimler through a new cooperation committee giving representation to all parties. The cooperation committee will be co-chaired by Carlos Ghosn and Dieter Zetsche and steered by senior executives of the three companies.