Nissan Continues Its Global EV Growth Pursuit

On March 27th, Nissan Motor Co Ltd NSANY revealed it will be investing in Renault SA RNLSY, more precisely, its EV unit Ampere. Interestingly, Nissan decided to deepen its partnership with Renault even after the French automaker ditched the unit’s listing plans due to sluggish market conditions.  

Reshaping The Longstanding Partnership With Renault

Renault plans to sell a stake of about 2.5% in Nissan shares to the 91-year-old Japanese car maker, with the deal possibly could generating up to 362 million euros ($392 million). This is Renault’s second share sale as it looks to cut its Nissan stake from about 43% to 15%, as Renault sold a 5% stake in Nissan back to Nissan in December, as part of its share buyback program. The deal resolved the cause of long-term friction, along both automakers to move forward at a time of unparalleled changes as the industry undergoes its biggest transformation to date.

Back in December, Nissan confirmed it plans to invest about 600 million euros in the unit, along with Mitsubishi who followed with 200 million. With the latest news, Renault and Nissan deepend their ties, with collaboration being in the industry's air as perhaps the best bet for surviving these uncertain times which will undoubtedly linger. 

Nissan is evaluating a potential partnership with Honda.

Reuters reported that Nissan is evaluating a potential partnership with its Japanese peer Honda Motor Co Ltd HMC. In an effort to fight off its rivals in China, namely BYD Company Limited BYDDY and Tesla Inc TSLA, Nissan is considering to join forces with Honda, according to Reuters. With Honda, Nissan could gain scalability which is key to facing off Tesla and BYD. Moreover, Reuters reported that the partnership would focus on key EV parts as well. Then again, Honda has an existing collaboration with General Motors GM as it aims to expand its ratio of EVs and fuel cell vehicles to reach 100% of all sales by the end of 2040. 

Nissan aims to restore its EV place with the Arc. 

Nissan got cemented in the early days of EV history as an EV pioneer with its all-electric Leaf. But, a long has happened since as Nissan got overshadowed by its rivals such as Tesla and BYD, with emerging players coming at great speed. CEO Makoto Uchida spoke of the need to shake things up as he announced the company’s new business plan, The Arc. With the new strategy, Nissan aims to achieve some ambitious goals as it plans to launch 30 new models, out of which 16 will be electric by May 2027. By the end of the decade, Nissan aims to cover all segments of the EV market by launching another 18 models, aiming for a 60% model mix. Also, by investing more than $2.6 billion in battery development, Nissan targets to lower the cost of next-generation EVs by 30%, which would bring them at par with their gas-powered counterparts by the end of the decade.

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