Renault-Nissan Saving Money Through Parts and Platform Sharing

RenaultRenaultFrance, 1898 > present189 models
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-NissanNissanJapan, 1932 > present159 models
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 is taking advantage of shared costs to save significant amounts of money by purchasing components from the same suppliers, using shared powertrain parts and engineering vehicles at the same time. For 2012, it had €2.69 billion in shared cost savings through this cooperation, compared to €1.75 billion in 2011.

Cost sharing is having its largest benefits in Asia and Eastern Europe where Renault and Nissan can engineer a single vehicle and produce it using both nameplates at the same factories. For example, its factory in Chennai, India, builds 400,000 Renault and Nissan models a year for export within the region and the local market. It does the same thing at its factories in Russia and South Korea.

Renault-Nissan have also set up a shared purchasing unit that allows the company’s to negotiate for parts for both at once. It gives them an eight million-unit economy of scale.

Renault-Nissan has also just announced its new Common Module Family that will let the two of them share platforms on their largest scale since merging. It will allow vehicles to be built for 30-40% less and a 20-30% reduction in parts cost. The first cars to use the CMF platform will be for compact and large cars. The first Nissan vehicles to use it will be the next generation RogueNissan RogueJapan, 2007 > 201312 versions
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, QashqaiNissan QashqaiJapan, 2006 > 2014305 versions
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and X-TrailNissan X-Trail Gen.2Japan, 2007 > 201328 versions
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that will start hitting the market in late 2013. The next generation Renault Espace, ScenicRenault Scenic Gen.3France, 2009 > present121 versions
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and LagunaRenault Laguna Gen.3France, 2007 > present125 versions
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will use the platform starting in 2014.

It is predicting that cost reductions through shared developments will continue to save money for the company.