Nissan to invest £515m in Renault's EV unit as Alliance deal sealed

Banking firm Bernstein meanwhile raised its rating on Renault’s shares to "outperform", meaning it reckoned they could do better than those of its peers, based on the news.

“Untying the Gordian knot between Nissan and Renault was a key reason for our upgrade,” analyst Daniel Roeska wrote in February.

As reported, Renault can sell the 28% of Nissan stock to be held in trust, which could unlock an additional €3.8 billion (£3.3bn) of cash to throw at the electrification and software shift, based on Nissan’s current share value.

The partnership can now be “reloaded” with collaboration on “high-value” projects in Europe, Latin America and India, covering vehicles, markets (likely sales distribution and marketing) and technologies. These aim to deliver "win-win, large-scale and actionable benefits", the pair said.

Bernstein’s biggest question concerned Project Horse, the unit created by Renault in partnership with China’s Geely that will build hybrid and combustion powertrains. Nissan has expressed private concern that its intellectual property might be compromised by third parties. 

The very fact that it took so long to craft this agreement illustrated how far apart Nissan and Renault have travelled. The strains of the Alliance (which in 2016 grew to include Mitsubishi after Nissan took a majority share) came to a head in 2019, after then CEO Carlos Ghosn was arrested in Japan for failing to declare portions of his salary. 

The pressing need for renegotiation of the Alliance was accelerated in 2020, when Nissan and Renault slumped to huge losses due to the pandemic, with former Volkswagen Group executive Luca de Meo drafted in to overhaul Renault that year. 

De Meo’s response to reform the company amid the electrification shift has been swift, including crafting plans to spin off the Ampere division, but repairing the Alliance was one issue that dragged on. 

The simmering distrust on both sides has likely stalled the signing of common agreements in a crucial phase during the switch to electrification, in much the same way that the lengthy implementation of Brexit hampered UK automotive investment during the same once-in-a-generation changeover. 

The two companies have agreed on certain projects. For example, Renault now leads the development and manufacturing of Nissan’s new electric Micra, which shares the Renault 5 platform. Renault will also rebadge the Captur and Clio for Mitsubishi to allow that brand continued access to a region that's becoming harder to build stand-alone cars for, given the regulatory burdens.

Harnessing shared economies of scale has become absolutely critical if the rising cost of batteries and the dangers of new, more nimble competitors are to be headed off at the pass. For example, Renault and Nissan didn’t outwardly need two different hybrid drivetrains powering its bigger vehicles, especially given that the technology will have a relatively short shelf life.