Infiniti will talk platform and engine sharing with Daimler tomorrow, a senior executive said in Paris.
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Infiniti parent Nissan Motor’s Africa, Middle East, India and Europe chief Colin Dodge told Reuters the talks, about a model he declined to specify, would take place on 2 October.
If an agreement is reached, Daimler would supply a vehicle platform and related engines to Infiniti, which would then add “the unique body and interior on top,” said Dodge. He could not give a timeline for the project but added that it would be a global agreement if it went ahead.
Daimler and the Renault-Nissan alliance earlier this year signed a deal to work together on projects including small cars, in a deal that involved a 3% cross-shareholding.
Referring to prospects for the European market, which is now having to cope without the scrapping incentive schemes that revived it when the crisis hit, Dodge said it would be “down a bit,” forecasting 15m unit sales including Russia.
In terms of sales, Nissan itself is doing well, he said. “There’s only one real headwind at the moment globally – the yen,” he said.
Dodge said achieving a consolidating operating profit of around 8% and a “reasonable return to shareholders” would signify that Nissan had achieved a complete recovery.
“Except for the yen, we could do that now,” he said, adding that as things stand it would take around six months.
