Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance opens a new chapter

While the focus on the mainstream ICE market will be with the B-segment SUVs, on the EV front, Renault-Nissan alliance will explore A-segment models for India, writes Ketan Thakkar.

- Ketan Thakkar

French carmaker Renault and Japanese auto giant Nissan have updated their alliance to reflect the realities of the current market. In a major rework, the boards of both Renault and Nissan have approved equalising the stake each automaker holds in the other to 15 percent. This has been done to help bring in a better balance in the French-Japanese alliance in the respective companies with a voting right, which also includes smaller Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

In the scheme of things, India will have a big role for the alliance partners and to stay relevant in the fast-growing Indian passenger vehicle market, alliance is planning to bring in slew of new SUVs in the coming years and the Franco-Japanese alliance partners are considering a common A-segment electric vehicles for the Indian market.

The new plan was officially announced by the alliance partners on Feb 6. The announcement comes after the two companies rebalanced their equity structure of over two decades, that brought down the cross holding.

While the focus on the mainstream internal combustion engine market will be with the B segment SUVs in India, on the electrification front, the Renault-Nissan alliance continues to explore the A segment vehicles.

Autocar Professional had exclusively reported in November about the possible announcement of the next phase of investment from the Renault Nissan alliance. A statement from Renault Nissan Alliance said, "For India and export, Renault Group and Nissan will 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 in India.