Nissan said that it will buy up to 15% of Renault’s electric vehicle (EV) unit Ampere, reviving a long and sometimes contentious alliance that will also result in more common car platforms.
The agreement, reached after months of tense negotiations, includes the previously announced reduction of Renault’s stake in Nissan to put the two on a more equal footing, extending a partnership that has been in place since 1999 for an initial period of 15 years and also includes Mitsubishi Motors.
“Previously the alliance was more about synergies… and global volumes,” Nissan chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta said. “The next 15 years is about how we become the number one value creator for each other and our shareholders.”
The lopsided relationship between the two car makers, which was deeply strained by the 2018 arrest of its architect and former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, amid a financial scandal, had long been a source of friction among Nissan executives.
While Renault bailed out Nissan two decades ago, it is the smaller automaker by sales.
“I consider that what we have agreed is a much better set-up than what we have had in the last past few years,” Renault CEO Luca de Meo told a presentation of the new-look alliance in London.
“We have now a new governance scheme that is much more straightforward, we can now operate like a normal company. Seen from Renault, is about regaining some strategic agility without breaking necessarily the ties and the synergies that were existing.”
