Nissan is looking to cut costs by a third using common parts across different vehicle segments.
The company said a new engineering concept, dubbed Common Module Family or CMF, would double the use of common parts in the next generation of its vehicles to around 80%. The first cars developed under CMF will be rolled out in 2013.
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Chief executive Carlos Ghosn said: “Everything we’re trying to do is about two things: how we make things more in common with partners … and at the same time keep the specificity of each brand.
“(It’s about) how we can get the cost efficiency and investment efficiency while at the same time still get a very distinctive brand or product that people will not confuse.”
Instead of using a different platform for each segment, Nissan will have four modules – the engine compartment, cockpit, front underbody and rear underbody – each with variations that depend on vehicle weight and can be shared across platforms.
Corporate vice president Hideyuki Sakamoto said that would help Nissan use common parts across as many as 1.6m vehicles, compared with the 50,000-200,000 now. He added that the company aims to eventually match the volume of Volkswagen which pioneered the concept of commonisation in the auto industry.
Nissan executives said the system would be shared in some form with Renault but did not go into specifics.
