Renault and Nissan rebuild their alliance to ride out coronavirus storm

Here is a revolutionary idea. Instead of focussing on deeper alliances and more political instead of economical talk, how about building cars that look good at reasonable prices which someone wants to buy. And cut out a lot of electronic junk most people do not need.

mover the past decades cars have been stuffed with unnecessary gadgets, which are not optional but drive up the cost and the only thing separating the brands are the logo’s.

once the car bobo’s understand that maybe they will sell a few

On an operational level, the alliance often does not work well at all. Face it, Nissan engineers do not like being told what do by Renault engineers, and Mitsubishi managers don’t like being told what to do by Nissan managers. It seems there’s almost no deep cultural integration within these companies. If you didn’t already know that Nissan and Mitsubishi were supposed to be partners, the average person would have to look very hard for evidence otherwise. The sooner everyone can face that reality, the better.

On a more positive note, the geographic distribution of the alliance seems to be pretty logical. Stop trying to put all carmakers in all regions. Renault can focus on Europe, Nissan can be in charge of China and America, while Mitsubishi can handle Southeast Asia, where it’s pretty strong. Then, just for an example, Mitsubishi can probably leave North America, where its market position is marginal at best.

Play to each carmaker’s strengths and realize their weaknesses, stop pretending that the companies will ever have any kind of meaningful integration, and you might be on to something.

Just give Renault the full control and ownership over Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, then Japanese companies may survive.

The Oyajis are terrified of Western complete control over Japanese auto industry, in which Ghosn brokered a plan for Renault to absorb both Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors. A few years ago, we have heard the same thing with foreign executives controlled all management positions in Takeda Pharma - foreigners owned 50% of the company now. Renault has already had a majority in both companies, not a complete ownership yet!

The Daihatsu CEO once said that the Keiretsu model has no place in the international, liberal world order before the company was absorbed into Toyota. Nissan coup d'etat against Ghosn is merely an attempt of reasserting the Keiretsu system back. Japanese economic system and philosophy don't work today, and won't work in the future.

Just give Renault the full control and ownership over Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, then Japanese companies may survive.

actually not a good idea, basically all those japanese jobs will be going to France, before all the Ghosn drama Nissan was the way more profitable of the two and if anything Renault was sucking on the teet of Nissan to survive itself. Both companies need to work together and get their acts together, the French government should keep their snouts out of the alliance, Japanese jobs should not be sacrificed for French

actually not a good idea, basically all those japanese jobs will be going to France, before all the Ghosn drama Nissan was the way more profitable of the two and if anything Renault was sucking on the teet of Nissan to survive itself. Both companies need to work together and get their acts together, the French government should keep their snouts out of the alliance, Japanese jobs should not be sacrificed for French

The already existing Keiretsu is inefficient and responsible for Nissan's downfall during 1990s. The French bureaucrats may be annoying but they can listen, learn, adapt and improvise. More importantly, the Europeans know how to make a profit, and willing to cut costs for a profit (much harder than Anglo-American counterparts because Europeans behold to the trade unions).

Japan and China prioritize social stability more than profits, so they aren't willing to cut costs. Unfortunately, the world becomes more globalized everyday, and corporations have to cut costs in order to compete against other companies. Japan and China will have to face the ugly reality of bankruptcy and layoffs as inevitable parts of an economic cycle. Japanese people have to learn that their hermit kingdom is not the center of the world. Multilingualism or English proficiency is necessary in the newly globalized world. Nihonjiron means little now, even if some ultranationalists rant in front of Southeast Asians and Koreans, they will laugh or punch at those Japanese in the face. Japanese people need to become more proactive, creative, innovative, liberal and internationalized! We need more entrepreneurs, game-changers and innovators!

I don't think that jobs will be transferred to France. They will be more automated, and suppliers will be more competitive not entrenched in numbers like in Nissan keiretsu. Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors won't be the only foreign-majority countries in the future. There will be more Japanese big companies becoming foreign, especially after the Covid economic depression.

I would be very surprised if this alliance can continue. So much distrust on all sides. My guess is that they will all go bust.

Not a problem...even better companies will emerge.