by Norihiko Shirouzu, Maki Shiraki and Gilles Guillaume
BEIJING/TOKYO/PARIS (Reuters) – Renault and Nissan have been drawing up battle plans for the announcement of a possible agreement on a restructuring of their alliance as early as next month, three sources familiar with the preparations told Reuters, while stating that the negotiations were not yet complete.
The president of the diamond group, Jean-Dominique Senard, said on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the Women’s Forum in Paris, “confident” in an agreement with the Japanese partner following discussions on a restructuring of the twenty-year-old partnership. years and on Nissan’s participation in Renault’s future electrical entity, called “Ampère”.
Nissan, for its part, wants to rebalance the current structure of the alliance, inherited from the rescue of the Japanese group by the French manufacturer, through the sale of part of the 43% that Renault holds in Nissan to bring this stake back to the same level. than the 15% held by the Japanese group in its French partner, Reuters reported earlier.
No final deal has yet been signed, but the two groups have begun working out an agenda with two possible windows for an official announcement in the coming weeks, with a possible first date on Dec. 7 in London, the sources said. .
December 7 falls two days after a long-scheduled meeting in France between the leaders of the three alliance partners, Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, they added.
According to the sources, if a little more time is required to complete the negotiations, the manufacturers could opt for further meetings a week later and also have in their cards the possibility of an announcement the following week in the British capital.
Asked about this time horizon for an agreement, Jean-Dominique Senard refused to comment. Nissan said it would not comment on the speculation, while Mitsubishi, a third alliance partner that sources said would position itself on Ampere once Nissan’s decision is made, declined to comment. .
Several sources familiar with the matter have already said that the sharing of intellectual rights to its technological contributions was one of Nissan’s main concerns.
France’s dominant position in the alliance has also long been a source of discontent for some Nissan executives, deprived of voting rights in Renault.
At the same time, the latter concluded this month a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Geely to launch a new equally-owned entity, “horse project”, called to become a supplier of internal combustion and hybrid engines for the brands of the two groups. , and possibly for third-party car manufacturers.
This is the second major component of Renault’s strategic restructuring, which should help it finance its future strategy and consolidate its place in the frantic race for electrification.
On the “Ampère” project, Nissan and Renault hold daily discussions on a whole range of complex subjects – legal, regulatory – with the aim of ironing out most of the differences, if possible, by mid-December. two of the sources told Reuters.
(With Kevin Krolicki, French version Gilles Guillaume, edited by Sophie Louet)
Copyright © 2022 Thomson Reuters
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