by Satoshi Sugiyama
TOKYO (Reuters) – Nothing is blocking talks between Renault and Nissan over the future of the alliance between the two carmakers, which will hold “important talks” on Tuesday and Wednesday, the company’s chairman said.
Speaking at an economic conference in Japan, where the boards of directors of Renault, Nissan and the third member of the Mitsubishi alliance met physically for the first time on Tuesday, Jean-Dominique Senard also praised of the 20-year-old partnership, now the subject of an overhaul project.
Renault and Nissan could have used this week’s Japanese meeting to strike a deal, but talks dragged on due to Nissan’s concerns over the protection of its technologies in Renault’s future electrics entity, Ampère, and in the new partnership between the French group and the Chinese Geely in thermal and hybrid engines, sources told Reuters.
“Nothing is blocking” the talks, the Renault chairman told reporters on the sidelines of the economic conference in Tokyo, refusing to say when the members of the alliance would find an agreement. “You will be informed in due course,” he added.
“As president of this alliance, I have never experienced such a warm atmosphere within it, and this bodes well for the future”, continued Jean-Dominique Senard.
The objective of the meeting of the administrators of the three groups, the previous edition of which – digital only – dated back to January, was mutual and general information on the files in progress and no vote was organized on this occasion, said to Reuters a source familiar with the matter.
The directors of Renault will continue this discovery stay on Wednesday with a visit to Japanese sites.
The French car manufacturer unveiled last week a large-scale strategic plan involving the creation of five entities in order to consolidate its margins and finance its return to the race for electrification. He hopes that Nissan will invest in its future electric part, which will be listed on the stock market next year.
After the earthquake of the disgrace of CEO Carlos Ghosn, who for a long time embodied the alliance, his successor to the presidency endeavored to mend the links between France and Japan, in particular vis-à-vis those at Nissan who consider the current structure unbalanced.
The two groups are in the process of renegotiating their capital links inherited from the past. Renault currently owns around 43% of Nissan, while the Japanese group owns only 15%, without voting rights, of its French partner.
(Satoshi Sugiyama, with Maki Shiraki in Tokyo and Gilles Guillaume in Paris; editing by Kate Entringer)