Although the Renault-Nissan partnership is already well established and generally considered to be a strong, mutually beneficial relationship, a report out of Japan based on an interview with the CEO of the automakers suggested a true merger was in the works.
Update:
Not so, said a representative from Nissan following the apparently erroneous report by Nikkei. “Mr Ghosn didn’t say that Renault and Nissan are leaning toward establishing a holding company,” Nissan spokesman Mitsuru Yonekawa told the Associated Free Press.”Mr Ghosn has insisted that the alliance will continue to evolve.”
So despite Nikkei’s interpretation of Mr Ghosn’s words, it appears that we’re back to where we started when Ghosn said in February that no merger was in the works.
(Previous report found unedited below)
In fact, it was just February that rumors began circulating yet again that Nissan and Renault were looking to merge, but they were quickly shot down by joint-CEO Carlos Ghosn. Now, it appears as if Ghosn has had a serious change of heart given that he told Japan’s Nikkei newspaper that he hopes to bring the two companies under a single umbrella in the future.
The details of the proposed combining include establishing a holding company that would potentially hold Japan’s Nissan, France’s Renault, Russia’s (largest) AvtoVaz, Romania’s Dacia and South Korea’s Renault Samsung Motors. The interrelationships between those companies are already complicated by shared stakes, including a 15 percent stake in Renault by the French government, which would need to sign off on such a plan.
Nissan and Renault are also thoroughly tied together, with Renault owning a 44.3 percent stake in Nissan, and Nissan returning the favor with a 15 percent stake in Renault.
Should all of these automakers come together under a single ownership umbrella, Ghosn believes it would take 2-3 years to go through, but the end result would be an automotive giant that could be very near the output of global giants like Volkswagen, General Motors and Toyota.
References
1.’Nissan denies report…’ view
2.’Nissan, Renault eye…’ view
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