The Renault-Nissan alliance is going through a turbulent moment. While the Japanese are looking for a way to relaunch the brand in Europe, a market they have dominated with total power for years, the French are willing to make their electric fleet the commercial spearhead of the company. In Nissan they know that it is not yet the time, and they affirm that it is early to decide on the split of a parallel brand for electric cars.
The increase in sales and the popularity of electric cars in Europe has caused many manufacturers to take the drastic decision to separate their brands. Create a specific division with unique sales channels to sell combustion cars and electric cars separately. While this has been the option for several manufacturers such as Renault, for others it does not make much sense, at least for the moment, as Volkswagen, Mercedes and Stellantis have recently declared.
A few days ago the news broke that Renault was considering selling part of its Nissan shareholding to finance its electric vehicle division. The French. Renault currently controls 43.4% of Nissan shares, valued at around 7,100 million euros. A very juicy amount that would be used mainly to invest in new sustainable products like the one they plan to present to us in just a few days during the most important sustainability convention in the world to be held in the city of Paris.
Renault blindly trusts the electrification project in Europe and therefore wants to have two well-differentiated paths. The objective of this new electrical brand is to attract investors and potential partners. At Nissan they are not even considering taking such a measure at this time. The Japanese have let the European market die in recent years. If we look back we see how those from Yokohama came to control the sales of several segments thanks to the Nissan Qashqai, the Juke and also the LEAF.
However, that sales power has ended up being diluted like sugar. At this time Nissan wants to re-launch the brand with such attractive products as the new Qashqai or the most modern Nissan Ariya, the second electric after the LEAF, which continues to be updated periodically from time to time. It is “too soon” has declared the director of operations of the house, Ashwani Gupta. Once again the different positions are causing friction within the international alliance.
Nissan wants to focus on its electrics, but also on its combustion fleet with different electrified systems. The Japanese look favorably on Renault looking for that separate sales format, as confirmed by Gupta himself. Luca de Meo, the CEO of Renault, will seek to smooth things over with his business partners, including Mitsubishi, at an important meeting to be held in Japan in the coming days.
