The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance has had no easy times. The arrest of Carlos Ghosn late last year on allegations of financial misconduct shook the Alliance's foundations. Could this one survive without the main actor who created it and held it together for two decades?
Months after Ghosn's arrest and subsequent removal from the posts he occupied, we see the first signs of a path not only to maintain it, but even to strengthen the relationship between Renault and Nissan.
Path that could culminate in a merger between Renault and Nissan . An option that is interesting, given that, according to the Financial Times, before his arrest, a merger between Renault and Nissan was in the plans of Carlos Ghosn.
Plans that received strong opposition from Nissan management. Why? We have to understand that the Alliance is not a traditional automotive group. Its operation is more like a set of common development partnerships than two brands integrated in the same car group.
Despite that, Nissan owns 15% of Renault and Renault owns 34% of the largest and most valuable Nissan , which guarantees the French builder greater power of influence and decision, even having the rights to appoint senior executives to manage the Japanese builder.
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In other words, the balance of powers clearly favors one another. Thus, according to Financial Times sources, "(Nissan) management has always said it would fight hard against any reorganization that would entrench its second-tier status."
merger, part II
That was before. Carlos Ghosn is no longer present, and after the difficulties felt in the Alliance in recent months due to his detention, there are now reports of more favorable conditions, to which the recent creation of a new board of directors for the Alliance led by the current Chairman of Renault, Jean-Dominique Senard.It was Renault itself that took the first step towards restarting talks with Nissan for a possible merger in the next 12 months . However, this hypothetical merger between Renault and Nissan — and Mitsubishi, partly owned by Nissan — would be just the beginning.
everyone wants FCA
If it materializes, the objective would be to combine efforts to acquire yet another automobile group, guaranteeing better chances of fighting for global dominance against Toyota and the Volkswagen Group.
Its target is the FCA — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles — which, as we reported recently, was the target of greed on the part of Carlos Tavares, CEO of PSA. The FCA itself, even in the period when the ill-fated Sergio Marchionne was directing its destinies, actively sought partners or even a merger with other groups, which included PSA itself, GM and even Hyundai.
If no agreement could be reached at the time, now there seems to be more openness, or more favorable conditions, to create a new automobile leviathan.
Why the interest in FCA? Two words: Jeep and Ram . Both are highly profitable, have a solid presence in the North American market and it is impossible to forget the global potential of Jeep.
What's more, the more than five million vehicles produced by the FCA, together with the nearly 11 million of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, would allow massive economies of scale in the future. and consequent cost containment, an extremely important topic in a fast-changing automobile industry, which requires large investments in areas such as electrification or autonomous driving.
It remains to be seen who will achieve such an acquisition first. It will take time for Renault and Nissan to settle everything they have to settle between them, so when and if some agreement is reached, the FCA could already be in the hands of another rival group.
Source: Financial Times and Automotive News.