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French automajor Renault and alliance partner Nissan raised their target for cost savings and said they will deepen cooperation in the key areas of R&D, manufacturing & logistics, purchasing, and human resources.
The move will cut costs by 4.3 billion euros (Rs 36,369 crore) in 2016, up from 2.7 billion euros (around Rs 22,839 crore in 2012), according to the companies.
Renault-Nissan alliance global communications spokesperson, in an email reply to Business Standard, said they cannot comment on how this will impact the Indian operations at this time.
The Renault-Nissan Alliance has invested around $2.5 billion in India so far. During his visit to India last year, Renault-Nissan Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn said that the alliance will double its investment in the country over the next five years. They have also invested around Rs 4,500 crore to set up a manufacturing facility at Oragadam, near Chennai.
“Renault and Nissan’s partnership is fundamentally based on mutual respect and an attitude where all ‘win-win’ projects move forward on the fast track. With the new convergence projects, we will continue on the same path and with the same principles of respect and transparency -- at an accelerated pace,” commented Ghosn.
Focus areas
Under the new plan, Ghosn named executives to oversee joint vehicle development, research, manufacturing and logistics and human resources. Earlier, each company managed those functions separately.
Christian Vandenhende, a Renault executive who heads joint purchasing for Renault and Nissan, will be responsible for achieveing greater synergy in research and development and manufacturing operations. Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi of Nissan will oversee the research and development segment while Nissan's Shouhei Kimura will look after the manufacuturing and logistics segment. Marie-Françoise Damesin, executive vice president for Human Resources at Renault, will be the HR convergence project leader.
The Renault-Nissan alliance has expanded significantly and now ranks as the world’s fourth largest automotive group by volume. The Alliance encompasses partnerships and joint-ventures including Daimler, Mitsubishi, AVTOVAZ, Ashok Leyland and Dongfeng.
