13 April 2010

Ever since Renault formed its successful alliance with bankrupt Nissan over 10?years ago, Carlos Ghosn has been looking to repeat the success by adding a third carmaker to the alliance. He’s tasted the economies of scale which the Nissan alliance has brought and wants more.

Four years ago, with the help of Kirk Kerkorian the US billionaire who bought a massive shareholding in General Motors, Ghosn played with the idea of a 3?way alliance by bringing GM into the Renault?Nissan alliance. Rightly, or wrongly, GM – then under chief executive Rick Wagoner – turned down the overture. At the time it was a massive win for Wagoner who had been forced to give Kerkorian’s representative, Jerry York, a seat on the board. Despite York’s presence – he sadly died last month – the shotgun marriage came to nought.

But this week, Ghosn, now with a reputation for turning Nissan around, went to the altar again. This time the partner is the German luxury carmaker, Daimler. It is not a full?blown alliance on the scale of Renault?Nissan. Renault holds a 44% stake in Nissan and Nissan has a 15% non?voting share in the French company.
Daimler’s stake is a modest 3.1% in each of Renault and Nissan. The French and Japanese company are each taking a 1.55% in Daimler.

Daimler, which has lost billions of dollars trying to produce small cars (Smart, Mercedes A?Class and B?Class) is hoping the alliance will throw?up better ways of producing these small cars. Nissan will get Mercedes’ diesel engines for its Premium Infiniti range, which is struggling in Europe without a diesel option. I am not certain if Renault will gain much from the deal, apart, that is, from a share of what is reported to be cost savings over five?years of around 2bn euros.

I suppose it will boil down to whether ‘Le Cost Cutter’ Ghosn can speak German as well as he seems to be able to talk Japanese – and whether the Germans, who never seemed to able to speak American, can put aside their costly dalliance with Chrysler.

Have a great week, both in and out of the showroom.

If you have a story for us, or wish to get something off your chest, email barry@auto?retail.com

Barry Hook

Tags: Alliance, Daimler, Nissan, Renault