Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, 23 billion euros for electric and new city cars

The grand strategy of the electric car finally shows its most important pieces, which are the smallest ones, that is the city cars. Investments are directed strongly on the platforms necessary to create popular cars. In short, evolution finally goes beyond vision, and rather focuses on integration. This is the strong meaning of the online press conference held by the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, in which the allocation of 23 billion euros was announced to support the launch of 35 new electric models, in addition to developing a common strategy also on the front of the production of batteries, ensuring the alliance a production capacity of 220 GWh by 2030. A program that should be considered not financial but truly industrial, with rather clear responses to the demand for electrified but possible cars. Pending the industrial plan of Stellantis, expected on March 1, and with the extreme activity that the Volkswagen group is now demonstrating in the compact electric city sector, the move of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance completes a picture that can be the turning point of the transition, which also need viable roads for families with a common income.

Beyond the vision

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The meeting between Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi comes after two years of relative silence, in which the alliance has rearranged the internal relations of trust after the indictment and the escape of former number one Carlos Ghosn, in December 2019. Relations that needed to be carefully reconstructed, those between Tokyo and Paris, recalling how Renault holds 43.4% of Nissan shares and the latter owns 15% of those of the French group, albeit without voting rights, as well as a third of those Mitsubishi. Diplomacy has given way to the logic necessary to maintain the alliance between the world’s top 4 automotive groups, now that the battery-powered path requires closer synergies than ever. From 2026, the three companies will share mechanical platforms and technologies on 80% of total production, when now the percentage is 60%. The alliance had previously set an investment of 10 billion euros in the field of electrification of its models, which currently number 10, made using the work of 15 different factories dedicated to components and final assembly. The acceleration is clear, with a new investment target of 23 billion euros, needed to enrich the range of a total of 35 new battery-powered vehicles by 2030.

Sharing goal

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In addition to the announcements, the news that interests the general public, the industrial novelty, arrives on time. The three companies will concentrate the production of 90% of the zero-emission models on a total of only five platforms. By 2030, over 15 products will use the already known Cmf-EV platform which already forms the basis of the new crossover Nissan Ariya and the Renault Megane E-Tech Electric, presiding in the future what we can compare to the C segment of medium sedans and all derivatives. Mitsubishi and Nissan meanwhile have developed a Kei-EV platform dedicated to microcars, so popular in Japan with the definition “kei cars”, while the Lcv-EV is intended for light commercial vehicles such as Renault Kangoo and Nissan Town Star. From here on, what concerns the large numbers. The possibility of a much wider use of the Cmf-Aev platform remains open, the one currently destined for the new Dacia Spring and therefore ideally aimed at covering the entire range of segment A cars, more properly utilitarian. The game here will presumably be played against the new Fiat Panda Electric, the card that the new Stellantis industrial plan expected on March 1 could discover, also taking into account the rumors that see the Volkswagen Group ready to relaunch the production of the very small and -up !.

R5 and New Micra, the landing in city cars

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It is also a fact that the great diffusion of the electric car inevitably passes, and finally, to the more compact models, intended for predominantly urban use. Here the standard is overturned, with the smaller size and autonomy of the batteries which does not become a penalizing fact, but in case it facilitates lower industrial costs and therefore list prices that are truly comparable to those of traditional engines. Not surprisingly, the conference held by the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance unveiled the most significant details of the new Cmf-Bev platform, intuited last September on the occasion of the debut of the new R5 concept at the Monaco Motor Show, but so far not explained in the its potential. The alliance defines it as the most competitive for compact cars, destined for debut in 2024 and capable of providing a range of travel in zero emissions mode up to 400 km, but above all capable of reducing costs by 33% and increasing performance. 10% compared to Renault’s current reference electric B segment, the Zoe. The Cmf-Bev platform is intended to serve as the basis for over 250,000 vehicles per year under the Renault, Alpine, Dacia and Nissan brands. Among them the Renault R5 (which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary) and the natural heir of Nissan Micra, which will be built in northern France. The Alliance thus moves one year ahead of Volkswagen, which has planned the launch of the new ID.2 for 2025 using a modular platform derived from the Meb one already seen on the ID.3. Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi are also counting on a not just competitive advantage, the announcement of the start of production of their solid state batteries, more compact and cheaper than traditional ones. In this case, the appointment is for 2028.