Renault and Nissan have big plans for e-cars

Tokyo — Renault and Nissan will work more closely together to make electric cars, they said on Thursday, detailing their plans to spend €23bn (R394bn) on the transition to cleaner vehicles over the next five years. 

The two-decade old alliance, which also includes Mitsubishi Motors, said it would increase the number of common platforms for electric vehicles (EV) to five from four.

They will be used to build a combined EV line-up of 35 vehicles by 2030, the companies said in a press release.

They also said that by 2026 four fifths of all their models would share common platforms, compared with 60% now.

"The alliance remains a powerful partnership. We benefit from shared experience and expertise," said Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida.

The commitment to pool resources comes as the three companies face growing competition from bigger carmakers with deeper pockets, such as Toyota, which in December pledged to spend $70bn to electrify its fleet, as well as EV specialists such as Tesla Inc.

Now the world's most valuable vehiclemaker, Tesla forecast on Wednesday its deliveries in 2022 would grow 50% year on year.

The money promised by Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors on Thursday comes from funding they announced last year.

Nissan said in November it would spend ¥2-trillion (R270bn) over five years to accelerate vehicle electrification, including on EVs and hybrid petrol-electric cars.

In June, Renault unveiled a five-year €10bn EV strategy with a plan to launch 10 models and to have EVs account for 90% of all models by 2030.

Holding their alliance together is a cross-shareholding relationship, with Renault owning 43.4% of Nissan, which in turn has a 15% non-voting stake in the French car company and a third of Mitsubishi Motors' stock.

Reuters