Nissan and Renault have reportedly reached an agreement on a restructured alliance and will soon make an announcement about it.
We’ve known about the negotiations between the two car manufacturers for quite some time. In February, a framework for the new alliance was announced where Nissan would take up to a 15% stake in Renault’s electric vehicle unit, Ampere, while Renault would reduce its 43% stake in Nissan. Media reports state that some senior Nissan executives and directors challenged the provisions of the deal and have been particularly eager to protect the company’s intellectual property.
Reuters understands that in the months since February, Nissan is believed to have lowered its strategic investment in Ampere. The stake that it will take will depend on the value of Renault’s EV unit but it could be less than 10%. It is hoped that Ampere will go public in the first half of 2024 and could be valued at up to €10 billion ($11.2 billion).
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Renault is thought to be particularly keen to attract more investors to Ampere. Mitsubishi has expressed some interest in taking a small stake in the company and semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm has confirmed that it too will invest.
While Reuters believes that an announcement of the new alliance is imminent, Nissan described the negotiations as “ongoing” in a recent statement.
“Nissan and Renault are engaged in constructive and ongoing negotiations. We will make a statement in due course when the agreements are concluded.”
Former Nissan and Renault boss Carlos Ghosn has told the media that the latest agreement between the two companies suggests that there is still a lot of distrust between them.
“With the latest agreement, they’re trying to go for a mini alliance with the very reduced scope of cooperation,” he said. “Still a lot of distrust between the two organizations, that’s exactly the situation.”
