Renault-Nissan Alliance, what's in the bag for the future?

Renault-Nissan have a global alliance and now the Alliance have launched the Datsun brand in India. This was the come back for Datsun, and the Japanese manufacturer struck back with this new brand to capture 10% of the total market share in India. The Datsun will have low-cost products that will have an almost completely localised content on it.

The Datsun brand will have three new products under its umbrella, and all will be launched by FY 2016. The first hatchback with the Datsun brand— Go— was unveiled a couple of days ago, and this will be launched by the end of this year. Nissan will introduce two more products under the same banner. These will be available in the existing Nissan dealerships.

CMF-A platform:

CEO and Chairman Carlos Ghosn also confirmed yesterday that the Renault-Nissan Alliance is developing all-new vehicles to meet the specific demands of new car buyers in the world’s fastest growing economies.

The announcement marks the first all-new program developed from the ground up by Renault SAS and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., teams working side by side from inception. The program, internally named CMF-A, covers the most affordable category of cars in the Common Module Family, Renault-Nissan’s unique, modular system of vehicle architecture.

The CMF approach defines vehicles as five essential modules: the engine bay, cockpit, front underbody, rear underbody and electrical/electronic architecture. The compatible parts can then be assembled into hundreds of possible configurations, for maximum efficiency and brand differentiation.

Production of vehicles within the CMF-A scope will begin in 2015 at the Renault-Nissan Alliance plant in Chennai. Renault and Nissan will reveal additional details, including pricing details and product volume, closer to the start of production. Like all CMF categories, CMF-A offers a high degree of flexibility. Significant body style and powertrain variations can be matched to specific customer needs and preferences in India and other high-growth markets.

The Technology Centre:

RNTBCI— Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India Private Limited— is the Alliance technical centre for “Frugal Engineering” of Renault and Nisan R&D global network. This is the centre RNTBCI is the base for adapting designs and localising engines for Indian conditions. The goal of this centre is to build attractive products that are high quality and at the same time even deliver on time and also cost effective.

Market understanding and adaptation to Indian conditions:

The R&D works on three Fs, fast, frugal and fantastic, and these principles resulted in upgrading the Duster from being a Dacia to a Renault. The other challenges that the RNTBCI have been localising the K9K engine.

The Duster is sold as an entry-level SUV in European and African markets under the Dacia umbrella, however with the Renault badge, it also got several upgrades and even the look and the feel of the materials have been enhanced. The new chrome front grille, added rear AC vents, power windows on the right and several other features.

The Datsun Go was developed in India, with computer-aided design that helped them to test several factors of the vehicle in the virtual world. Also for the K9K, the RNTBCI worked n reducing weight and cost of K9K engine to make it more competitive for the Indian market. This K9K engine was developed by Renault and it powers Renault, Nissan, Mahindra and even Mercedes-Benz vehicles globally— a total of 26 vehicles. The K9K oil burner is available in three power ratings; first is 65bhp, second is 85bhp while the third is a 110bhp, and it has a torque rating of between 160-200Nm.

Manufacturing plant:

The Chennai plant is the Alliance’s first global plant, there was a plan to even start a similar Alliance plant in Morocco. However, the company decided to hold on with its plans.  The plant in Chennai can manufacture 4 different types of platforms at the moment. There are two assembly lines, one is for the Pulse and the Micra, while the second one is for the Duster, Evalia, Scala and Sunny models.

Soon, we shall see the Ashok Leyland Stile and also the upcoming Datsun GO! To be produced on the same assembly iine. As the Stile is based on the Evalia, Terrano on Duster and the GO on the Micra, it is a no-brainer on which line the vehicles will be assembled. The current assembly lines can work on four different platforms at the moment.

Future launches:

1)   Nissan Terrano – October 2013

2)   Nissan Micra Active -LAUNCHED

3)   Datsun GO – End of 2013

4)   Nissan Qashqai (7 seater) - 2014

5)   Datsun’s A-segment vehicle - 2015

6)   Datsun’s compact SUV - 2014

7)   Nissan’s new Teana - 2014

8)   Renault Lodgy - 2014

9)   Renault’s A-segment vehicle - 2015

10)  Renault Fluence facelift – October 2013