One day after Luca de Meo’s appointment as Renault group’s new CEO effective July 1, 2020, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance has announced a new framework for the future.
In a common press release, all three automakers stressed that the Alliance “is essential for strategic growth and enhance competitiveness for each company.”
Aimed at reinforcing the Alliance’s business model and strengthening its management structure, the framework was ratified at a January 30 meeting of the Alliance Operating Board (AOB) in Yokohama, Japan. According to the agreement, the member companies will be able to capitalize on their individual strengths and complement their strategies.
Related: France And Japan Working Together To Strengthen Renault-Nissan Alliance
“We are reinforcing the collaboration models to fully leverage the strengths within each company to enhance our leadership across regions, products and new technologies,” reads the press release. As a result, the AOB has decided that each of the three companies will become the reference company for a dedicated region. Nissan will focus on China, Renault on Europe, and Mitsubishi on South East Asia.
In terms of engineering, the Alliance will work on a leader/follower model, expanding this scheme to platforms, powertrains and key technologies. This means that one company will take the lead in the Alliance for the development of each key technology, which will then be spread among Alliance partners.
Next up, the AOB has agreed to pool the three companies’ CAFE (Clean Air for Europe) credit in Europe as early as 2020. Another decision regards LCVs, with Renault designated to develop a Mitsubishi van based on Renault Trafic platform that will be built at France’s Sandouville plant for sale in the Oceania region.
Facelifted Renault Traffic van
Finally, the AOB announced that strategic mid-term plans of the three companies will be disclosed simultaneously around May 2020. Said plans “will integrate the major consequences of the Alliance Operating Board decisions.”
New framework aside, the Alliance has reaffirmed key programs outlined at the previous board 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.”
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida, Renault interim CEO Clotilde Delbos, Chairman of the AOB and Renault Jean Dominique Sénard, Mitsubishi Motors Chairman Osamu Masuko, and General Secretary Alliance Hadi Zablit