Renault-Nissan Alliance and Mitsubishi join hands to develop new products

The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation have announced their plans to explore several new projects covering shared products, technologies and manufacturing capacity among the automakers.

Between Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, it is expected that the existing NMKV joint-venture company will be extended to co-develop a new small car including a specific electric version that can be sold on a global basis. The basis for this product will be from a jointly-developed 'Kei car' platform of the type popular in the Japanese domestic market. Further details of all products, markets and manufacturing will be announced separately.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Mitsubishi also confirms their plans to share technologies and product assets related to electric vehicles and latest-generation platforms. The three manufacturers were among the first to pioneer the introduction of mass-marketed zero emission products.

Mitsubishi will launch two new sedan models, based on vehicles from the Renault portfolio. The first sedan, to compete in the full-size D-segment markets of the US and Canada and would be manufactured at the Renault-Samsung plant in Busan, South Korea. The second sedan model would compete in the global C-segment. The manufacturing location for this product is under discussion.

President and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Carlos Ghosn said: “Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors have jointly benefited from several collaborations in the past, most recently the successful joint-venture on Kei cars in Japan. I welcome the direction being taken towards this broader cooperation, creating new opportunities for Renault in addition to further leveraging the productive relationship between Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors.”

Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors have an existing joint-venture company called NMKV which was established in June 2011 for the purpose of co-developing a range of Kei cars for both brands. The first of these products – the Nissan Dayz and Mitsubishi eK wagon – went on sale in Japan this year. Both products are manufactured at the Mitsubishi Mizushima plant in Japan.