Renault Nissan Mitsubishi- Ambitious Alliance 2022 Plan

Franco Japanese auto alliance Renault Nissan Mitsubishi on Friday announced an ambitious six-year plan under which it aims to double annual benefit from synergies to 10 billion euros by 2022. The three carmakers have also renamed the alliance as the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance by launching a logo to signify the recent changes.

Under its Alliance 2022 plan, the three member companies aim to collectively launch 12 electric vehicle (EV) models and 40 other vehicles with different levels of autonomous driving (AD) technologies.

"Today marks a new milestone for our member companies. By the end of our strategic plan Alliance 2022, we aim to double our annual synergies to 10 billion euros," Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of the Alliance, said in a statement.

He further said to achieve the target, on one side Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors will accelerate collaboration on common platforms, powertrains and next- generation electric, autonomous and connected technologies.

"From the other side, synergies will be enhanced by our growing scale. Our total annual sales are forecast to exceed 14 million units, generating revenues expected at USD 240 billion by the end of the plan," he added.

The increased synergy target of 10 billion euros by 2022 follows a 16 per cent rise in synergies in 2016 to 5 billion euros.

The doubling of synergies will be achieved partially by contributions from Mitsubishi Motors, specifically through deeper localisation, joint plant utilisation, common vehicle platforms, and an expanded presence in mature and emerging markets, the Alliance said in the statement.

Underlining electric vehicles as a key focus area, it said: "The objective remains to be the number one provider of mainstream, mass market and affordable EVs around the world."

By 2022, the member companies will significantly increase their product range to cover all main segments in their key markets of Japan, the US, China and Europe, it said.

The alliance said its electrification building block will involve common, scalable EV platforms for multiple segments by 2020, with a forecast that 70 per cent of EV volumes will be based on shared platforms by 2022.

Under the plan, the alliance will introduce a new family of EV motor and batteries from 2020, shared across the member companies.

Moreover, it will roll out 12 new pure electric vehicles by 2022 with 30 per cent decrease in battery cost from 2016 to 2022.

Besides, it also plans to reduce charging time to 15 minutes to deliver a range of 230 km by 2022, from 90 km in 2016. It is also looking to achieve of over 600 km EV range by 2022.

Over the same period, 40 vehicles will be introduced with different levels of autonomy, all the way to fully autonomous capability, it said.

From the looks of it, India will definitely benefit from Alliance 2022. Thanks to the 6-year plan, we will soon get mid-sized cars based on the CMF-B platform in the country. For reference, the Renault Kwid and the Datsun redi-GO are based on the CMF-A platform, while the fifth-gen Micra (yet to be announced for India) is based on the new CMF-B platform.