Renault and Nissan reported a
new "asset division"
in their alliance at the share level and announced new joint projects, which include the production of
four new pick-ups in Argentina.
After years of conflict in a partnership that has been going on for 24 years, both automakers decided that Renault will stop having the current 43.4% of Nissan and will move to a more "balanced" situation in which
each one will have 15% of the other.
Companies must retain that share and may not increase it.
The two manufacturers will have equal voting rights on their respective boards of directors.
Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, which entered the alliance in 2016, negotiated for months the details of this agreement, approved on Sunday by the Renault board of directors, and on Monday morning by Nissan.
New pickup for Córdoba
With this new agreement, new industrial projects were also announced,
especially in Latin America
.
In Argentina, the alliance will produce four pickups at the Santa Isabel plant in Córdoba.
Renault Oroch.
There will be a new pickup developed by Renault and shared with Nissan.
In this segment of compact vans, the companies will produce the successor to the
Renault Oroch in Córdoba.
nissan frontier
The collaboration on the existing family of Nissan Frontier/Renault Alaskan midsize pick-ups will continue.
The agreement contemplates manufacturing
two other models
in this segment that will continue the current ones.
Renault Alaskan Outsider
In Mexico, Nissan will produce a new model for the Renault Group.
It will be the first time in 20 years that a Renault vehicle is made in Mexico.
In addition, in that country they will market two common electric vehicles of segment A.
Scandal and negotiations
The agreement between the automakers was born in 1999 and was complicated by the surprise entry of the French State into the capital of Renault in 2015 and by the spectacular fall of Carlos Ghosn, who chaired the alliance, and who ended up detained in Japan at the end of 2018. accused of economic crimes.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida stressed on Monday that this initiative is necessary to build a "
culture of transparency and respect
" between the two manufacturers.
"We are going to
be coherent
, we are going to be focused on results and we will be generous and equitable, as we were during the negotiations," said the manager.
For his part, the CEO of Renault, Luca de Meo, stated that "based on this agreement, there is
a reactivation of the commercial and industrial initiatives
initiated by this alliance."
In any case, the French group is not going to immediately sell the rest of its shares in Nissan (28.4%) because its market value is much lower than that currently registered in its accounts.
Renault will continue to receive dividends on those shares until they are sold, for which no specific deadline has been set.
When the context is "commercially reasonable", these shares may be resold for the benefit of Renault, the Alliance specified.
Nissan will be able to make the first offer.
With information from AFP and
EFE
NE
