The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance has outlined a new ‘framework’ it said would “further reinforce its business model and strengthen its management structure”. All three companies reiterated that the Alliance was essential for strategic growth and enhanced competitiveness for each company. An initial move will see Renault assemble a variant of its Trafic van for Mitsubishi to sell in Oceania (essentially Australia and New Zealand).
The announcement followed recent media reports alliance partner Nissan reportedly was reversing former chairman Carlos Ghosn’s expansionist strategy and planning aggressive cost cuts to deal with an unexpected sales slump, ‘likely’ to revive efforts to persuade Renault to reduce its stake in its Japanese alliance partner and help balance the partnership and offering buyouts to salaried workers in the US not directly involved in manufacturing.
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The alliance operating board (AOB) said in a statement the new framework, ratified at a meeting in Nissan’s Yokohama home city, would “enhance the ability of the alliance member companies to capitalise on the individual company’s strengths and complement their strategies”.
The AOB also reaffirmed key programmes outlined at its previous meeting in November to support initiatives that will enable each member company to increase competitiveness and profitability amid the industry shift to new mobility services.
New framework to leverage member company strengths
“We are reinforcing the collaboration models to fully leverage the strengths within each company to enhance our leadership across regions, products and new technologies,” the board said in the statement.
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By GlobalData- Each of the three partner companies will be the reference company for a dedicated region: Nissan for China, Renault for Europe, Mitsubishi for south east Asia.
- Engineering will work on a leader/follower model, expanding this scheme to platforms, powertrains and key technologies. That mean one company will take the lead in the alliance for the development of each key technology, which will then be spread among the three partners.
- The AOB also decided to pool the three companies’ CAFE credit in Europe as early as 2020.
- For light commercial vehicles (LCVs), Renault will develop and manufacture, in its Sandouville plant, a Mitsubishi van variant based on the Renault Trafic platform for sale in its Oceania region. [This follows the November 2018 announcement of new van production at Maubeuge (small vans) and Sandouville (Trafic) and that Mitsubishi would source a Trafic platform vehicle from Sandouville for sales in Australia and New Zealand – ed].
- The strategic mid-term plans of the three companies will be disclosed simultaneously around May 2020, integrating the major consequences of these latest AOB decisions.
- The AOB said the new scheme would enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of aAlliance projects, to further strengthen use of resources and investments within the three companies.
New governance roles to ensure execution
The AOB, which consists one chairperson and the chairperson or CEO of each member company, also agreed to “engage actively” with the respective boards of directors of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors to strengthen its governance to operate effectively for the benefit of each member company.
“Such initiatives will maximise the collaboration within the alliance, while preserving the identity and autonomy of each member company,” the AOB statement said.
