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Renault, Nissan and the Alliance today said that they are taking new steps to increase value for stakeholders. These include operational projects in Latin America, India and Europe; enhanced strategic agility with new initiatives that partners can join; and a re-balanced Renault Group-Nissan cross-shareholding and reinforced Alliance governance. These have been approved by the Boards of Directors of Renault Group and Nissan Motor.
The transactions contained in the agreements would be subject to regulatory approvals, and completion is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2023. In the tangled web of individual country industrial policy this brings some measure of stability to a global, multi-national, politically diverse enterprise as the movement to electrified vehicles and other earth-saving technologies continues. The 24-year-old Alliance covers 100% of the world’s major global vehicle markets with Euro 85 billion in annual purchases. It already shares 60% of its vehicle platforms, and up to 90% of EV architectures, noted Jean-Dominique Senard, Chairman of the Alliance Board at the press conference. The upside for all is survival in a difficult environment, in our view. Senard also said that the French State is completely behind the agreement.
At the very least it locks in some badly needed economies of scale. It follows a general realignment ongoing other global automakers. As with all such strategic agreements announcing them is one thing. However, building a culture of shared trust across vast, diverse enterprises is quite another matter as the sorry Ghosn saga illustrated. Moreover, governments, technologies and customer expectations are moving at different speeds and in different, sometimes contradictory directions. (autoinformed.com on: Corporate Climate Change – Honda Reveals Reorganization; Khan, Mercedes Chief Technology Officer, Leaves Prompting Reorganization with Focus on Electric Only; GM, Honda to Develop New EVs for Sale in 2027; Nissan Blasts Ghosn as Unfit to Serve as An Executive)
At its core there is a re-balancing of the cross-shareholdings between Renault Group and Nissan. The two companies intend to enter into a new 15-year Alliance agreement [by 31 March 2023] and replace the current agreements governing the Alliance (the Restated Alliance Master Agreement, the Alliance Equity Participation Agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding of March 12, 2019). Loose ends remain on Korea, China and Geeley. Then there’s intellectual property issue to be worked out. Ultimately who holds what stake in what will be a work in progress. It appears to us everyone wins with the new agreement. (Nissan Motor Posts ¥156.6B Profit)
Re-balanced cross-shareholdings between Renault Group and Nissan
Nissan and Renault Group would retain a 15% cross-shareholding, with a lock-up obligation, as well as a standstill obligation. Renault Group will transfer 28.4% of Nissan shares into a French trust. The entrusted shares would be voted neutrally, except for:
- the election or dismissal of the directors of Nissan nominated by Renault, (where the trustee would vote as directed by Renault);
- the election or dismissal of directors who are nominated by the Nissan Nomination Committee, other than the Renault Group nominees (where the trustee should vote in favor of the Nissan Nomination Committee decisions and proposals).
- shareholder proposals not supported by the Nissan board of directors (where the trustee should abstain).
Renault Group would continue to fully benefit from the economic rights (dividends and shares’ sale proceeds) from the entrusted shares until such shares are sold. The transfer to the trust would trigger no impairment in Renault Group financial statements.
- As a result of the transfer of the 28.4% of Nissan shares to the trust, Nissan would be able to exercise its voting rights attached to its shareholding in Renault Group.
- The voting rights of Renault Group and Nissan would be capped at 15% of the exercisable voting rights, with both companies able to freely exercise their voting rights within such limit.
- Renault Group would instruct the trustee to sell the entrusted Nissan shares if commercially reasonable for Renault Group, but it has no obligation to sell the shares within a specific pre-determined period of time.
- Renault Group would have full flexibility to sell the Nissan shares held in the trust, within a coordinated and orderly process with Nissan, in which Nissan would benefit from a right of first offer, to its or the benefit of a designated third party.
Projects Under Contemplation
The companies are considering new projects in Latin America, India and Europe with benefits for the Alliance members along three dimensions: markets, vehicles, and technologies. “Each company would benefit from these value-creating projects in the mid-term while realizing short-term benefits from both cost sharing and cost avoidance,” the companies said.
Latin America
The four projects to be considered in Latin America include:
- A new half-ton pick-up, developed by Renault Group and shared with Nissan in Argentina.
- The collaboration on the Nissan Frontier/Renault Alaskan family, a one-ton pick-up, would continue. Renault Group would produce the pickups in Cordoba (Argentina) for both Renault and Nissan.
- In Mexico, Nissan would produce a new model for Renault Group, making it the first Renault vehicle to be produced there in 20 years.
- Additionally, Nissan and Renault Group would commercialize two common accessible A segment Electric Vehicles, both based on the CMF-AEV (Common Module Family) platform.
India
- For India and export, Renault Group and Nissan would collaborate on several new vehicle projects including new SUVs shared by both Renault Group and Nissan, and a New Nissan car derived from the Renault Triber.
- Additionally, as in Latin America, Nissan and Renault Group are also considering common A-segment electric vehicles.
Europe
The companies are exploring the following initiatives in Europe:
- Renault Group and Mitsubishi Motors would leverage the assets of Renault Captur and Clio to develop 2 new vehicles with the next-gen ASX and Colt based on the CMF-B platform.
- Renault Group would launch FlexEVan on the LCV market, as its first Software-Defined Vehicle from 2026 and share it with Nissan in Europe.
- For their line-ups beyond 2026, Nissan and Renault Group would also explore possible collaborations on the next generation of C-segment Electric Vehicles. To ensure benchmark charging time, Nissan and Renault Group would continue sharing technologies on their European cars, including potential usage of common 800-volt architecture.
- These initiatives would build on existing commitments including plans for the future Nissan compact Electric Vehicle (B-segment), based on CMF-BEV platform, to be produced at Renault Group’s ElectriCity facility in France from 2026.
Cooperation in Distribution, Aftersales, Charging Infrastructure, Batteries
In Europe, the scope of collaboration would go beyond the vehicles to cover lifecycle from distribution, to usage, to recycling and end-of-life.
Distribution, Aftersales & Sales Financing: Renault Group, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors are working on shared opportunities within the distribution network to support and increase dealer profitability and reduce their respective costs:
- By increasing the number of shared outlets in key markets.
- By developing common strategies on Used Car, After Sales and Sales Financing, leveraging the presence of Mobilize Financial Services in Europe.
Electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure: Renault Group and Nissan are considering jointly deploying charging infrastructure in Europe at both Renault Group and Nissan dealerships (charging@dealer).
Circular Economy: Renault Group and Nissan plan to select common battery recycling partners for their end-of-life batteries and production scraps.
Strategic Agility with Opt In
In what could be the most important area of enhanced cooperation, all three Alliance companies agreed to explore their existing strategies in electrification and low-emission technologies by investing and collaborating in respective member-company projects that could provide incremental value to each individual business.
“These agile strategic initiatives are designed to complement the business plans of member companies, including Nissan Ambition 2030 and Renaulution, as each business leverages commonality and investment opportunities to deliver on their respective goals for sustainable growth and targets for decarbonization,” the companies said.
The Areas of Collaboration Under Consideration
- Nissan’s intention is to invest up to 15% in Ampere, Renault Group’s EV & Software entity in Europe, with the aim to become a strategic investor. Through this intended investment in Ampere Nissan would enhance and accelerate new business opportunities for Nissan in Europe.
- Mitsubishi Motors would consider investing in Ampere.
- Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors would become customers of Renault Group’s Horse project, an initiative to achieve further scale and market coverage for its low-emission internal combustion engine (ICE) & hybrid powertrain technologies.
These initiatives add to ongoing areas of technology collaborations such as All Solid-State Battery (ASSB), Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) & autonomous driving.
“This far-reaching program paves the way for a renewal and strengthening of the 24-year partnership, creating a new agile spirit and harnessing the pioneering technologies of all three Alliance members. This next level will create more growth opportunities and help secure operating efficiencies for each Alliance company to innovate and transform in the fast-changing market for automotive products and mobility services,” the companies said in a joint release.
Renault and Nissan, Mitsubishi Alliance to Restructure
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Renault, Nissan and the Alliance today said that they are taking new steps to increase value for stakeholders. These include operational projects in Latin America, India and Europe; enhanced strategic agility with new initiatives that partners can join; and a re-balanced Renault Group-Nissan cross-shareholding and reinforced Alliance governance. These have been approved by the Boards of Directors of Renault Group and Nissan Motor.
The transactions contained in the agreements would be subject to regulatory approvals, and completion is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2023. In the tangled web of individual country industrial policy this brings some measure of stability to a global, multi-national, politically diverse enterprise as the movement to electrified vehicles and other earth-saving technologies continues. The 24-year-old Alliance covers 100% of the world’s major global vehicle markets with Euro 85 billion in annual purchases. It already shares 60% of its vehicle platforms, and up to 90% of EV architectures, noted Jean-Dominique Senard, Chairman of the Alliance Board at the press conference. The upside for all is survival in a difficult environment, in our view. Senard also said that the French State is completely behind the agreement.
At the very least it locks in some badly needed economies of scale. It follows a general realignment ongoing other global automakers. As with all such strategic agreements announcing them is one thing. However, building a culture of shared trust across vast, diverse enterprises is quite another matter as the sorry Ghosn saga illustrated. Moreover, governments, technologies and customer expectations are moving at different speeds and in different, sometimes contradictory directions. (autoinformed.com on: Corporate Climate Change – Honda Reveals Reorganization; Khan, Mercedes Chief Technology Officer, Leaves Prompting Reorganization with Focus on Electric Only; GM, Honda to Develop New EVs for Sale in 2027; Nissan Blasts Ghosn as Unfit to Serve as An Executive)
At its core there is a re-balancing of the cross-shareholdings between Renault Group and Nissan. The two companies intend to enter into a new 15-year Alliance agreement [by 31 March 2023] and replace the current agreements governing the Alliance (the Restated Alliance Master Agreement, the Alliance Equity Participation Agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding of March 12, 2019). Loose ends remain on Korea, China and Geeley. Then there’s intellectual property issue to be worked out. Ultimately who holds what stake in what will be a work in progress. It appears to us everyone wins with the new agreement. (Nissan Motor Posts ¥156.6B Profit)
Re-balanced cross-shareholdings between Renault Group and Nissan
Nissan and Renault Group would retain a 15% cross-shareholding, with a lock-up obligation, as well as a standstill obligation. Renault Group will transfer 28.4% of Nissan shares into a French trust. The entrusted shares would be voted neutrally, except for:
Renault Group would continue to fully benefit from the economic rights (dividends and shares’ sale proceeds) from the entrusted shares until such shares are sold. The transfer to the trust would trigger no impairment in Renault Group financial statements.
Projects Under Contemplation
The companies are considering new projects in Latin America, India and Europe with benefits for the Alliance members along three dimensions: markets, vehicles, and technologies. “Each company would benefit from these value-creating projects in the mid-term while realizing short-term benefits from both cost sharing and cost avoidance,” the companies said.
Latin America
The four projects to be considered in Latin America include:
India
Europe
The companies are exploring the following initiatives in Europe:
Cooperation in Distribution, Aftersales, Charging Infrastructure, Batteries
In Europe, the scope of collaboration would go beyond the vehicles to cover lifecycle from distribution, to usage, to recycling and end-of-life.
Distribution, Aftersales & Sales Financing: Renault Group, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors are working on shared opportunities within the distribution network to support and increase dealer profitability and reduce their respective costs:
Electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure: Renault Group and Nissan are considering jointly deploying charging infrastructure in Europe at both Renault Group and Nissan dealerships (charging@dealer).
Circular Economy: Renault Group and Nissan plan to select common battery recycling partners for their end-of-life batteries and production scraps.
Strategic Agility with Opt In
In what could be the most important area of enhanced cooperation, all three Alliance companies agreed to explore their existing strategies in electrification and low-emission technologies by investing and collaborating in respective member-company projects that could provide incremental value to each individual business.
“These agile strategic initiatives are designed to complement the business plans of member companies, including Nissan Ambition 2030 and Renaulution, as each business leverages commonality and investment opportunities to deliver on their respective goals for sustainable growth and targets for decarbonization,” the companies said.
The Areas of Collaboration Under Consideration
These initiatives add to ongoing areas of technology collaborations such as All Solid-State Battery (ASSB), Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) & autonomous driving.
“This far-reaching program paves the way for a renewal and strengthening of the 24-year partnership, creating a new agile spirit and harnessing the pioneering technologies of all three Alliance members. This next level will create more growth opportunities and help secure operating efficiencies for each Alliance company to innovate and transform in the fast-changing market for automotive products and mobility services,” the companies said in a joint release.