A tie-up between Daimler and the Renault-Nissan Alliance has been confirmed this morning.
Daimler will take a 3.1 per cent share in both Renault and Nissan while the Alliance will share a 3.1 per cent stake in the German car giant.
While each of the companies will remain independent, the new strategic co-operation will allow the firms to share technologies and development costs.
The new co-operation is expected to prove could news for the production of alternative fuel cars and the most fuel efficient combustion engines as was the subject of this week’s Green Piece. Indeed, the carmakers have today confirmed that together they will increase and develop production of electric cars. Daimler which owns the smart and Mercedes-Benz brands, will use Renault-Nissan Alliance developed engines in the next generation smart cars, while together the three firms will produce electric versions of the smart fortwo and Renault Twingo.
In return Nissan’s newly-launched luxury brand, Infiniti will benefit from Mercedes know-how, sharing diesel and petrol engines.
According to Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars: “Daimler and the Renault-Nissan Alliance are combining common interests to form a promising foundation for a successful, strategically sound cooperation that is based on a number of very concrete and attractive project cooperations. Our skills complement each other very well. Right away, we are strengthening our competitiveness in the small and compact car segment and are reducing our CO2 footprint – both on a long-term basis. We know that we can make brand-typical products based on shared architectures. The individual brand identities will remain unaffected.”
