After signing a non-binding agreement last November, it’s official. The Renault Group (including its alliance partners, Nissan and Mitsubishi) and Geely are combining their internal combustion engine development and manufacturing operations.
The new group—a 50-50 joint-venture between Geely and Renault will see them launch a new powertrain company that will develop, manufacture, and supply both internal combustion and hybrid powertrains (including plug-in). In addition, all intellectual property held by the two companies surrounding their combustion and hybrid powertrains will be transferred to the JV.
The joint venture will be jointly led by Renault Group and Geely, with equal board members to formulate and execute strategies and set the direction. An executive team will be based in the headquarters of the new company, which is intended to be established in the UK, to consolidate operations, build on synergies, and define future plans.
In terms of footprint, the new company will have 17 engine plants globally and five R&D centers in three continents. As such, they will have the following customers at launch: The Renault Group, Geely Auto, Volvo Cars, Proton, Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors Company, and Punch Torino. Their annual capacity is said to be five million powertrains.
Moving forward, the JV expects to offer solutions to 80 percent of global ICE and hybrid engine requirements. Thanks to Saudi’s Aramco investment as well, development will also include synthetic fuels including e-fuels and hydrogen.
Geely Auto and Renault will enter into a long-term procurement agreement from the joint venture for ICE, hybrid, and plug-in hybrids powertrains (engine and transmissions) for passenger vehicles. Renault will procure powertrains from the joint venture for light commercial vehicles as well as the development of hybrid batteries.
Learn more about the Geely 1.5 TD engine here.
Looks like, since half of Geely's engine tech were of Mitsubishi DNA, Nissan may even copy what Hyundai (later Kia after 1998 merger) did when it started to use Mitsubishi cars' technologies but on the contrary sales of Nissan/Mitsubishi vehicles using ancient Mitsubishi technology (that Geely has) could still have no match for Hyundai/Kia - look at Nissan's presence in Vietnam for example the Almera (Versa in North America) only get beaten quickly by its Hyundai/Kia competitors. So I expect that this kind of activity Nissan/Mitsubishi is doing with Geely is what other Japanese brands - mainly Toyota and Honda - can't, for example Toyota already struggles to shift to EVs and Toyota too somewhat failed to export Raize to Europe, Australia (Straya) and NZ after a safety scandal...
ReplyDeleteThat’s not giving me much confidence
ReplyDeleteYes, Nissan/Mitsubishi using Geely engines under licence — via Nissan/Mitsubishi under Renault control — would've not what I/we expect earlier. As I have already seen that Toyota NOW owns shares in Mazda, Suzuki and Isuzu (although the last two no longer markets cars in the U.S. and Canada) then of course with these said four car manufacturers being of Japanese origins as Nissan/Mitsubishi means that if as said below:
DeleteA: If Renault would've sold its shares in Nissan long before Carlos Ghosn's arrest, circa 2010s (particularly after the tsunami in Japan happened) then earlier on Nissan should've acquired stakes in Suzuki, Mazda and also Mitsubishi when the first two (Suzuki and Mazda) abandoned their relations with the Western automakers they were partnering with — Suzuki (Volkswagen but earlier it was General Motors) and Mazda (Ford). Though Suzuki, Mazda and Mitsubishi are small compared to Nissan, therefore Nissan should've ended its Renault alliance immediately and early if obly Nissan should've own stakes in Suzuki, Mazda and Mitsubishi earlier — circa 2015-2016 (as 2015 was the year Suzuki cut ties with VW just as Mazda did the same with Ford hence in 2016 the Ford Motor (Company) decided to leave Japan and Indonesia as a result of Ford's divorce with Mazda).
B: If Renault were to form an agreement (memorandum of understanding, MOU) with Toyota in exchange for the former to sell off its ownership in Nissan/Mitsubishi to the latter, then just as I know before, Nissan/Mitsubishi under Toyota's umbrella (instead of Renault) would mean Nissan/Mitsubishi would refuse to change/switch their cars' blueprints/mechanical parts into those found in Toyota vehicles just like with Subaru, Mazda, Suzuki and even Isuzu — since these said four marques are now part of Toyota since they partnered with the latter. (In that case Subaru under Toyota retained the former's preference of powering their cars with boxer/flat/horizontally-opposed engines and it even led to Toyota using one for the 86/BRZ sports cars whereas Mazda too refused to turn their products into Toyotas so Mazda decided to keep their own cars' technology unchanged as hence Mazda's vehicles has one of the best looks and handling to all Japanese carmakers but also Mazda is know as a driver's brand.)
How about, have Nissan/Mitsubishi use Mazda's Skyactiv engines? I also sense that Mazda and Mitsubishi used to put Nissan's automatic transmissions in their (Mazda and Mitsubishi) vehicles in the past — for examples the first Mazda MPV (the first MPV sold in the Philippines with the later Mazda MPV models being front-wheel drive) had utilised Nissan's automatic gearbox (which was found in rear-wheel drive Nissan cars since the first Mazda MPV was RWD) while Mitsubishi used Nissan's CVT in the base model Mitsubishi Lancer circa 2000s. (Also the Lancer Evolution 7 GT-A's automatic gearbox as hence the A's meaning was derived from Nissan technology as well.)