It has been floating for quite sometime in the auto world that Renault- Nissan alliance is planning something big for its Indian market. The rumours were indeed true. The CEO of the Renault Nissan Alliance, Carlos Ghosn, has announced that they are indeed preparing to launch A Nano segment car in the country in the year 2015. The team will be using their much hyped CMF-A platform for this.
Renault is a French car maker while Nissan is a Japanese automobile manufacturer. Both the companies formed an alliance in the year 1999 with the perception of a “strategic partnership”. On a global scale, this alliance sells one out of every 10 cars. They together have command over 7 leading brands which are Nissan, Renault, Dacia, Datsun, Renault Samsung Motors, Infiniti and Lada. In the last year, they together manufactured 8.1 million vehicles, making them the 3rd largest manufacturer in the world with respect to volume. As a result of “cross share holding’ Renault has a 44.4% stake ownership in Nissan while Nissan holds a 15% ownership in Renault. Owing to the strategic partnership, both the companies have a say in each other’s financial matters but still retain their brand individuality.
The much talked about CMF platform stands for ‘Common Module Family’. It consists of 5 segments that can be a part of different applications. The CMF platform has 4 chassis components and a common electrical unit. The 4 component are for the rear underbody, front underbody, the cockpit and engine bay. The very first vehicle to receive this architecture will be the Nissan Rogue which will be launched in 2014. By the year 2020, this platform will be a part of 3 Nissan and 11 Renault vehicles. With the use of this CMF platform, the manufacturing cost will be reduced by 30% and the entry cost of the vehicle will go down by 40% for this alliance. The platform mentioned above, CMF-A stands for Common Module Family-Affordable, designed especially for the Indian market. After its debut in India in 2015, it will head for a global launch.
The CMF-A designed by Renault Nissan Alliance, will be a multi brand platform. This means that it can be used by Renault, Nissan as well as Datsun. The first car is set to enter the market in the year 2015 at a very competitive price. Carlos Ghosn has termed this technology as ” state of the art and most innovative.”
With this platform, this alliance is planning to capture a total of 5% share in the Indian market by the end of this year and wish to take it to 15% in the coming few years. Not worrying about the deadlines for this target, Carlos Ghosn has asked his team to first complete the product correctly.
This alliance holds a manufacturing unit in Chennai which has an annual output of 4 lac units on 4 different platforms. They also plan to establish a research and development centre in the country. Carlos Ghosn has great hopes from India. Elaborating on this he said that “Considering the investment that is being made by the government on infrastructure, and the booming private sector, there is no way anyone in the car industry can be pessimistic about this market.” So far, this alliance has invested a sum of $2.5 billion in the Indian market.
By the year 2016, Nissan will have 10 new models in the country, 3 of which will be Datsun. Nissan has an alliance with Ashok Leyland as well, who will be launching the MPV Stile today.
