New electric models planned for 2013 in Renault-Nissan and Daimler cooperation

The broad strategic cooperation between the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler announced on 7th April 2010 will see the joint development of common architecture for a new range of small cars, all with electric versions.

There will be joint development of a common platform for a successor to the Smart Fortwo and an equivalent new Renault model. Both groups will combine to develop common architecture for a new four seater Smart and the next-generation Twingo. One main characteristic of the new architecture will be the unique rear wheel drive concept used by current Smart vehicles. There will be electric versions of all the new models which are destined for production starting in 2013. Both groups stress that differentiated product design will maintain each vehicle’s unique branding.

There will also be cooperation on powertrains based on the sharing of petrol and diesel engines between the two groups. The Renault-Nissan Alliance will provide three and four cylinder engines from its portfolio to Daimler, which will then be adapted and modified to reflect Mercedes’ characteristics. This way, Daimler gets access to engine technology for its future line-up of premium compact cars while the Renault-Nissan Alliance will improve its capacity utilization.

On large cars, Daimler will provide petrol and diesel engines from its current portfolio to Nissan’s up-market brand, Infiniti. Infiniti will be able to utilize Daimler’s four and six cylinder gasoline and diesel engines while Daimler will improve its capacity utilization.

Equity swap

The two groups announced an equity exchange that will give the Renault-Nissan Alliance a 3.1% stake in Daimler, and Daimler a 3.1% stake in Renault and a 3.1% stake in Nissan. The strategic cooperation will be managed by Renault-Nissan B.V. for the Alliance and Daimler through a new cooperation committee giving representation to all parties. The cooperation committee will be co-chaired by Alliance CEO,Carlos Ghosn and Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, and steered by senior executives of the three companies.

It is the intention of both groups to create a long-term framework to work closely on future areas of cooperation, including electric cars, between Renault, Nissan and Daimler.