France – The strategy aims to double annual synergies to €10 billion ($12 billion) through deeper cooperation between Renault, Nissan and the newest member of the group, Mitsubishi. This target follows a 16% increase in synergies last year to €5 billion.
“To achieve this target, on one side Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors will accelerate collaboration on common platforms, powertrains and next-generation electric, autonomous and connected technologies,” said Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of the Alliance. “From the other side, synergies will be enhanced by our growing scale.”
The Alliance plans to produce 9m units based on four common platforms, up from 2m on two platforms in 2016, while 22 engines out of 31 will be shared, compared with 14 out of 38 last year. The shared powertrains are expected to comprise 75% of sales. The common platform strategy, based on Common Module Family (CMF) architecture, will be extended to electric vehicles (EVs) with autonomous driving capabilities, plus a new B-segment platform for midsized vehicles. Mitsubishi will gain access to CMF and use common powertrains by 2020.
The group aims to have common, scalable EV platforms for multiple segments by 2020, predicting that 70% of EV volumes will be based on shared platforms by 2022. Mitsubishi’s new plug-in hybrid (PHEV) technology will become the common C/D segment PHEV solution. By 2022, 12 zero-emission EVs should have been launched, with a new family of EV motors and batteries introduced from 2020; the Alliance hopes to decrease the cost of the batteries by 30%. Between now and 2022, 40 vehicles will be introduced with varying levels of autonomous driving capability.
“The Alliance has grown and performed with two members since 1999. With Alliance 2022, we will prove that we will grow and perform with three companies or more,” stated Ghosn.
The group’s annual sales are forecast to reach 14m, while revenues are expected to hit $240 billion. Sales already increased by 7% year-on-year to 5.27m in H1 2017, making the Alliance the largest automotive group in the world by sales volume. Cumulative sales of EVs surpassed the 500,000 mark.
