Nissan and Renault shake hands on restructuring their enduring automaking alliance

Carmakers Nissan Motor Company and Renault S.A. have agreed to an extensive overhaul of their two-decade-long partnership that will see the French carmaker on equal footing with their Japanese partner. Renault will slash their stake in the company to 15 percent while Nissan invests in Ampere, an EV, and software pure player founded by Renault.

Under the renewed agreements of the partnership, Nissan and Renault will retain a 15 percent stake in each other's company through a cross-shareholding agreement. Both companies will be able to freely exercise their voting rights, previously, Nissan only had a 15 percent non-voting stake in the French company while Renault owned a 43 percent stake in Nissan. The 28.4 percent of Nissan shares Renault will reduce will be transferred to a French trust. 

In a statement, Nissan said that despite Renault whittling down their share of the company, Renault will still be able to reap the financial benefits from the shares unless they are sold. Renault can instruct the trustee to sell the entrusted Nissan shares whenever it is commercially reasonable for the company, the French company is also under no pressure to sell these shares quickly as they have no obligation under the agreement to sell these shares within a pre-determined period of time.

This major overhaul is a significant milestone for the 24-year-old alliance. According to Nissan, the two companies will continue to work together on projects in Europe, India, and Latin America. 

For now, the revised agreements of the alliance are still being finalized and are still subject to the approval of the board of directors at Renault and Nissan. The partnership gave birth to some iconic electric vehicles like the Nissan LEAF and Renault Zoe, along with the development of the Renault-Nissan Common Module Family platform which became the backbone of current vehicles sold by Renault, Nissan, and the Outlander sold by Mitsubishi. With the alliance close to working out a refresh for the partnership, we can expect more new things to come from Nissan and Renault.