Apparently inspired by the popularity of the Tato Nano in India, Renault and Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn wants a piece of the low budget pie. The Nano, of course, grabbed the world's attention when it came out with a base price tag of just $2,500. Speaking last Friday at the Renault annual meeting, Ghosn announced Renault's intention to work with Nissan and the Bajaj Group to produce its own $2,500 car.
It's unlikely that the cheap Renault will be exported to Europe or North America, although it could go to other emerging markets. What is likely is that Renault will produce a battery powered version at a significantly higher price.
"Renault's board of directors has re-elected Carlos Ghosn as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for a four-year period, following the renewal of his directorship by the Annual General Meeting of April 30, 2010." So, now that Ghosn has been reconfirmed as the man at the helm of the dual-headed RenaultNissan alliance, what does he plan to do next? No, he's not going to Disney World. "We will continue to accelerate synergies with Nissan as part of the Alliance, with new actions that should produce results in 2010," answers Ghosn. "We are combining our strengths with Nissan, notably in India, Russia, Brazil and Mexico."
We've all been wondering exactly what flavor of fruit the Daimler AGRenault-Nissan mash-up would bear, and now it looks like we may have our first answer. Starting soon, the Infiniti G will boast an efficient four-cylinder engine borrowed straight from Mercedes-Benz. AutoWeek reports that Nissan head-honcho Carlos Ghosn confirmed the news himself, though so far we have no indication of exactly which four-pot will make its way into the Japanese sedan or when it will be available to buyers.
The suits at both Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz don't seem to be too concerned about the new four-cylinder G robbing sales from the Silver Arrow. Ghosn said that customers typically don't cross-shop the two brands at all. Instead, Infiniti will benefit from having a new efficient option for buyers that will help the company meet impending fuel standards, and Mercedes-Benz will move more powerplants than before. Win, win.
Daimler is looking for a new kind of Renault Alliance, one that includes Nissan. According to a new report in The Wall Street Journal, there is a deal pending between Renault-Nissan and Daimler to partner on things like engines and platforms, as well as further development on matters that could help increase fuel efficiency. The two companies feel that partnering in those areas would help develop the technology more effectively while keeping the costs more manageable.
Right off the bat, Daimler will get the key to the Renault-Nissan small-car and small-engine toybox. When was the last time you heard of a cheap, frugal Mercedes-Benz... even a Smart? Renault-Nissan would get the opportunity to fiddle around with Daimler's hybrid goodies, as well as possibly the German company's diesels. Any sort of Nissan-Renault alliance with Daimler could fail horribly – after all, these are the raiders that flogged Chrysler badly enough to land it on the heartlung machine. On the other hand, a vehicle as inexpensive as a Versa that's as solidly screwed together as an E Class has a certain allure. An announcement may come as soon as early next week.
Will Nissan's upcoming Leaf electric car compete directly with the 2011 Chevrolet Volt? Well, that depends on who you ask. Apparently, Nissan head Carlos Ghosn doesn't believe the two eco-friendly automobiles will be competing on a large scale. Says Ghosn:
"Frankly, I mean so far there is no competition. Let's be serious. It's not because someone is coming with a prototype and one car that this is competition. The question is how much capacity are you building... What I am sure is that in 2011, I am going to be the only one on the market."Ghosn wasn't necessarily referring directly to the Chevy Volt when he made those comments at the Geneva Motor Show, but the sentiment would surely include General Motors' extended-range electric vehicle by proxy. We'd imagine that a good deal of Leaf or Volt buyers would consider the other car a competitor for their hard-earned dollars.
If the issue between the two electric cars is production numbers, Nissan certainly takes the (currently theoretical) win as it plans to build 500,000 Leaf EVs by 2012. By way of contrast, GM has been mum on actual production goals for its Volt program, but we know the initial launch at the end of 2010 will be a comparatively small one.
Rumors that Renault-Nissan may be interested in taking on a third head have popped once again, with the would-be merger candidate this time being General Motors. Huh, sounds familiar, doesn't it? In actuality, The Wall Street Journal is really just speculating on the possible effects of such a deal, and it's done so with all kinds of number crunching and colorful pie charts.
The lone quote from Renault-Nissan head Carlos Ghosn that seems to have sparked the article: "The name of the game is scale and co-investments and sharing technologies." That's a common thread from Ghosn and most recently stated at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month.
After reading through the article, it seems possible that such a merger could make sound business sense for the Franco-Japanese automaker for a couple of reasons. First is Ghosn's seemingly insatiable appetite for large-scale synergies. Second, the two automaker's sales footprints appear to be rather complimentary. Finally, Renault-Nissan has enough cash reserves and holdings on hand that it could afford to purchase a 10-percent stake in the American automaker when it hopefully goes public again in early 2011.
Renault has found a way to appease Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that didn't involve writing a check for $850 million. The French company took a 25% stake in Russian carmaker Avtovaz, and when Avtovaz started having a hard time of it earlier this year Renault looked content to see how things turned out. Putin wasn't: he told Carlos Ghosn to inject cash into Avtovaz, or Putin would dilute Renault's stake with a share sale.
Things retreated from the cliff when Renault promised technology to Avtovaz, in return for which Russia would put 50 billion rubes ($1.7 billion U.S.) into the company. Renault's technology share is valued at €240 million ($358 million U.S.). The know-how could be of greater assistance to both companies than if Renault had contributed cash: Avotvaz gets something it can build on long term, and Renault doesn't have to throw good rubles after bad.
Avtovaz is nowhere near rescued, however. The company remains loaded with debt, making it difficult to finance its restructuring, and sales of its primary vehicle, Lada, haven't rebounded. And to hear Putin tell it, he could be knocking on Renault's door again soon.
With all the trials and tribulations General Motors has endured during the past year, we almost forgot that the Detroit, MI-based automaker nearly got itself tied up with Renault-Nissan. Back in 2006, the two companies discussed joining forces to become a singular global automotive juggernaut, but in the end, GM felt it was in its best interests to go it alone and face the quickly disintegrating global automotive market by themselves.
While GM's situation ultimately improved via bankruptcy and a $50 billion helping hand from the U.S. government, Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn still thinks the partnership would have been "without a doubt" in everyone's best interests. Ghosn reportedly made the comments during a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations, adding that "there was a possibility to create something that would be extremely competitive."
Ghosn then went on to say that he wasn't happy the two companies didn't end up working together after GM nearly collapsed because "when you see the disaster and the waste of energy and skills and talent, nobody can be happy." The charismatic CEO also said that Renault-Nissan was very concerned about GM's precarious position earlier in the year due to the fact that his company uses many of the same suppliers. If GM had gone down, it would have probably taken more than a few suppliers with it, and Ghosn says that as a result, Nissan wouldn't have been able to make a single vehicle in North America.
It looks like Tesla probably won't be alone in offering different-sized battery packs in its future electric vehicles. At a U.S. launch event for the Leaf electric car on Friday, Nissan product planner Mark Perry told Paul Eisenstein of the Detroit Bureau that the Japanese automaker is investigating a similar idea.
Lithium ion batteries are likely to remain expensive for the foreseeable future, so in a bid to make EVs more affordable, they could be offered with different battery capacities. Tesla is planning to offer three sizes for the Model S with ranges from 160 to 300 miles. The Leaf doesn't have room for a pack larger than the initial 100-mile range, but future models may be designed to accommodate larger packs while the base versions could come with a smaller unit.
When Dodge announced that it wouldn't be sharing its Ram platform with Nissan, we just kind of assumed that the Titan was going to go the way of the Do Do. Why? Because Titan sales are the suck. Nissan has only sold 15,393 copies of its largest truck through the first 10 months of the year. For perspective, Ford sold more F-150s in the first two weeks of October than Nissan has sold in 43 weeks. Last year wasn't much better either, as only 30,000 customers walked out of a Nissan dealer with a new Titan.
But if a report from Inside Line is to be believed, the Titan will live on. RenaultNissan CEO Carlos Ghosn reportedly told IL that "Titan will have a replacement, we are staying in the large pickup truck market." It makes a bit of sense that there will be another Titan given the fact that Nissan also uses the basic platform for the Infiniti QX56 and the Nissan Armada. But then again those portly SUVs aren't exactly flying off the shelf, either.
Speculation is that Nissan could be looking for an outside partner (or already have one) to collaborate on a new pickup. We're thinking one candidate could be Toyota. The only other Japanese automaker competing directly with the domestics in the U.S. half-ton pickup truck market, Toyota was expecting to produce 200,000 units per year of the Tundra when the it launched, but has sold only 66,000 through October. Teaming up with Nissan would help bring costs down, soak up extra production capacity and mitigate the risk inherent in competing against Ford, GM and Chrysler at what they do best.
