Renault and Nissan'’s sporting operations are likely to share powertrains in the future, Renault's product boss Tom Lane confirmed to Autocar at the Geneva motor show.
Renaultsport and Nismo are both undertaking aggressive growth programmes, but Lane said the firms, which are alliance partners, will do everything they can to cut costs of developing new cars.
Going forward there will be some opportunities for synergies between Renaultsport and Nismo,” said Lane. “"The costs involved in powertrain development are enormous, for example, yet we have to acknowledge that the sales volumes involved in Renaultsport and Nismo are relatively modest.
"Because of that I'd say there is some scope for shared powertrains in the future. There's no point in each division developing its own 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine separately, for example.”"
The Nissan Juke Nismo was recently released to critical acclaim, while Renaultsport’'s tuning prowess is well established.
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Certainly makes sense
Certainly makes sense financially for the companies but I can see there being problems with internal politics over this one.
Personally, I'd like to see Nismo take the lead on engines and allow RenaultSport to concentrate on the chassis - arguably the bit they do the best.