The Renault-Nissan Alliance has been making huge waves with its progression of electric cars and now it could have another ally in the form of German manufacturer, Daimler.
The parent company of Mercedes-Benz and Smart is reportedly in talks with Nissan to procure large engines and co-operate on the development of green cars.
Renault is already in partnership talks with Daimler and holds a 44.3 per cent stake in Nissan, so the Nikkei suggests that the talks will soon be a three-way affair. An agreement, which could be reached by April, could include cross-shareholdings with Nissan considering procuring large diesel engines and V-8 petrol engines from Daimler to reduce its development costs which are essential as it calls on massive financial resources to further develop green technology.
In addition, the companies will co-operate on areas such as the procurement of materials and environmental technologies, such as electric vehicles, with Daimler tapping into Renault-Nissan’s competitive edge in the sector.
Renault and Nissan would take around a three per cent stake in Daimler. The combined global sales of the three automakers in 2009 totaled about 7.64 million units. As such it would be the third largest group if a partnership was formed – trailing only the 8.62 million units sold by Germany’s Volkswagen AG and Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corporation – which recently agreed a capital tie-up – and the 7.81 million vehicles sold by the Toyota Motor Corporation.
