Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi have unveiled a €23bn electric car plan that will produce dozens of new battery-powered models and deepen collaboration between the members of the alliance.
The groups will produce 35 new models of electric car by the end of the decade, split across five production systems that are shared between the companies.
The strategy aims to knit closer ties between the three carmakers and heal tensions that have riven the alliance since the 2018 arrest of Carlos Ghosn, who held the French-Japanese grouping together for close to two decades.
The companies, which are racing against peers such as Volkswagen to produce a new generation of low emission vehicles, have already invested billions in rolling out electric cars. France’s Renault last year outlined a €10bn plan for its own battery models by 2025. Nissan said in November that it planned to spend ¥2tn ($17.4bn) over the next five years.
The alliance will pay jointly for a new platform, or underlying car architecture, which will be used for Renault and Nissan models.
“These are massive investments that none of the three companies could make alone,” said alliance chair Jean-Dominique Senard, who also chairs Renault.
He said the era of “crisis” at the groups caused by “a lack of trust” was “in the past”.
The companies will work with the same suppliers for key components, and said they aimed to cut battery costs by 65 per cent by 2028.
Under the plan, Nissan will release an electric car to replace the Micra, its smallest model, which will be manufactured by Renault in France.
Mitsubishi Motors will reinforce its presence in Europe with two models, among them the ASX based on Renault best-sellers. The brand’s plans to return to Europe were reported by the Financial Times last year.
