Renault-Nissan Alliance to Switch to Just Three Modular Platforms

The news came via a recent press release by the Franco-Japanese alliance, in which Renault-Nissan brag about achieving record synergies thanks to their match made in heaven – or better yet Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where their headquarters are actually based.

Fifteen years after the partnership started, it seems that Renault and Nissan want to start benefiting even more from their alliance, and are about to take their largest common step so far – creating three modular platforms on which all their future cars will be based on.

Called Common Module Family (CMF), the new approach to engineering will consist of three different modular platforms:

– CMF-A will provide a common pool of parts for small vehicles;

– CMF-B will only consist of parts that are to be used on mid-sized cars;

– CMF-C/D will only be used for the largest vehicles made by the alliance, with the new Nissan Rogue, X-Trail and Qashqai all being built on this platform.

Renault’s first CMF-C/D-based car will be the upcoming generation of the Espace, with other models to follow until 2020.

“Development of CMF vehicles is helping to drive synergies in all our major business areas – from purchasing to vehicle engineering and powertrains,” said Christian Mardrus, Alliance Executive Vice President for Renault-Nissan B.V. and the Alliance CEO Office. “CMF will continue to be a major driver of our synergies in the future with 70% of our vehicles expected to fall within the CMF scope by 2020.”

Posting record synergies of 2.87 billion euros in 2013, up from 2.69 billion euros in 2012, the Renault-Nissan Alliance is apparently set on returning to their place as a major player in the top five largest car makers, despite the fact that Renault on their own aren’t exactly best-sellers right now.

By Alex Oagana

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