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On May 27th, at the mid-term strategy conference of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, Jean dominic sena, chairman of Renault, said that Renault and Daimler may usher in new cooperation. I hope to report some good news to you in the next few weeks.
In short, Renault will once again cooperate with Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz. So, the question is, why should Daimler cooperate with Renault?
Deepen communication on the basis of not affecting individual families.
Everything in the world has a cause and effect. For commercial companies, the cooperation between Renault and Daimler is nothing more than an interest relationship. In fact, the cooperation between them began in 2009, when Dieter dieter zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Daimler Group and CEO of Mercedes-Benz, and Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault, both publicly praised each other many times.
In April of the following year, Renault-Nissan Alliance officially announced the extensive strategic cooperation with Daimler on a series of substantive projects, and also announced the cross-shareholding structure of the two parties: Renault-Nissan will hold 3. 1% of Daimler Group, and Daimler Group will hold 3. 1% of Renault and Nissan respectively.
A brand positioning is popular and a brand positioning is high-end. The cooperation between Renault and Daimler seems unequal and unrealistic, but in fact they are right.
As for the cooperation between the two parties, dieter zetsche, CEO of Daimler, gave such an evaluation in 20 10: Daimler and Renault-Nissan Alliance combined their common interests and established the foundation for successful strategic cooperation between them on a series of practical and attractive projects. Our respective advantages are complementary. We can directly strengthen our competitiveness in the field of small cars and compact cars, and carry out long-term cooperation in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Both parties can also enjoy the resources to produce products suitable for their own brand characteristics without affecting their own brand independence.
Generally speaking, they are complementary. The two sides can "make friends" and have in-depth exchanges, but it will not affect each other's existing "family".
To this end, Daimler and Renault have formulated eight cooperation plans, including the cooperation between SMART FORTWO and Renault TWINGO, the cooperation in powertrain research and development, the cooperation in applying diesel and gasoline engines of Renault Nissan Alliance to SMART and Renault TWINGO, and the cooperation in applying Daimler's gasoline and diesel engines to finidi, a high-end luxury brand of Nissan Motor Company.
Since then, the cooperation between Daimler and Renault has begun to accelerate. By September of 20 13, the cooperation projects between the two sides increased from three "key projects" mainly concentrated in Europe at first to 10 projects involving Europe, North America and Japan, and the cooperation was further deepened.
Take the Mercedes-Benz four-cylinder gasoline engine co-produced by Deke Factory in Tennessee, USA as an example, both sides have benefited a lot. The plant broke ground in May, 20 12. It took one and a half years to complete the plant construction and put into production in the middle of 20 14. The engines produced here are not only mounted on mercedes benz c class, but also assembled on British and finidi models, indirectly sharing the power research and development costs of the two companies. Later, the finidi Q50 equipped with this engine was also introduced into China, which greatly increased the sales and attention of this model.
20 15 Daimler and Renault continue to deepen cooperation. 20 15, the two parties set up a joint venture automobile assembly plant in Aguascaliente, Mexico, with each party holding 50% shares. In 20 17, the factory began to produce British-finidi and Mercedes-Benz A-class cars for the North American market.
20 16 The cooperation between Renault and Mercedes-Benz continues to deepen. Based on Nissan Navarra Naara, Renault built the first luxury pickup truck for Daimler-X-class, which was officially launched in 20 17. However, users don't seem to buy it. After three years of dismal performance, Mercedes-Benz announced the termination of the X-class project at the beginning of this year.
In addition, Daimler announced this year that it will cooperate with Renault to develop the next generation of Citan, and the new car will be developed and produced on the platforms of Renault Kangoo and Dachiadoc.
It can be seen that Daimler is quite satisfied with Renault as a partner, otherwise new projects will not be launched one after another.
▌ The existence of Renault
Speaking of Renault, it seems that this brand has not improved in China in recent years. After the establishment of the joint venture between Dongfeng Renault and Dongfeng Group, it didn't make much waves. On the contrary, recent news about Renault's withdrawal from China is endless.
In mid-April, Dongfeng Group issued the announcement of "Insider News Dongfeng Renault intends to reorganize", in which Renault intends to transfer its 50% equity of Dongfeng Renault to Dongfeng, and Dongfeng Renault will stop its Renault brand-related business activities.
In this regard, some netizens said, "There is no sense of existence at all, and this withdrawal has little impact." However, in sharp contrast to Renault's lack of presence in China, its performance in Europe and other global markets is not inferior. In the past 20 19, Renault brand sold 3,753,700 vehicles worldwide, which shows its strength.
Of course, when it comes to Renault, you can't just say Renault brand. The influence of Nissan and Mitsubishi in Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance can not be ignored. In the same period last year, Nissan sold 565,438+076,200 vehicles worldwide, while Mitsubishi sold 65,438+0225,300 vehicles. The total sales volume of the alliance ranks third in the world, second only to Volkswagen and Toyota. The absolute magnitude of10 million vehicles makes many opponents envious.
It should be pointed out that Renault has the largest voice in the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, which is reflected in the shareholding structure of the three parties.
In the 1990s, Nissan was in trouble due to redundancy of manpower and poor cost control. 1999 Nissan, which has suffered losses for seven consecutive years, has a market share of less than 5%, and it is also burdened with huge debts of 3 trillion yen (about 230 billion yuan) and is on the verge of bankruptcy. In May of that year, Renault exchanged 36.8% of Nissan's shares for $5.4 billion, becoming the major shareholder of Nissan.
Today, Renault has held 43.4% of Nissan's voting shares, and Nissan acquired 0/5% of Renault/KLOC (no voting rights) in May 2002. Therefore, Renault can affect Nissan's related operations to a certain extent. Later, with Nissan's acquisition of Mitsubishi, Renault also has the ability to indirectly influence Mitsubishi and has the most say in the alliance. In this way, Renault's strength in the automobile industry is still quite good.
Even so, the cooperation between Daimler and Renault-Nissan Alliance is full of variables. Due to the turmoil in the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance last year, many people in the industry are worried that the cooperation between Renault and Daimler will be negatively affected or even broken.
In this regard, Jean dominic sena, chairman of Renault, has said that the cooperation between the two companies will not be affected by Ghosn, the former CEO of Renault, and there will be further cooperation plans in the future.
However, combined with the impact of the current epidemic on the global auto market, it is unrealistic for Renault and Daimler to return to the level of ten years ago. Perhaps both sides will pay more attention to new energy sources.
▌ Renault-Nissan alliance is moving towards the opposite of Ghosn.
While strengthening cooperation with Daimler, the Renault-Nissan alliance is moving towards the opposite of Ghosn.
Also at the medium-term strategy conference of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, the alliance announced that the three parties will deepen cooperation and focus on their respective core markets under the "leader-follower model", that is, the aforementioned "divide and rule" strategy.
This is the best compromise between "merger" and "separation".
More importantly, the latest strategy seems to show a tendency: under the leadership of Renault Chairman Senard, the whole alliance is not only "close to Ghosn", but also rapidly moving towards Ghosn's "opposite".
No one denies Ghosn's brilliant achievements, but under his fame, there have been all kinds of doubts. Is it too radical, too strong or even "blindfolded"?
In 20 17, the total sales volume of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance owned by Ghosn * * reached10610.53 million, beating Volkswagen Group10.53 million and becoming the global automobile sales champion.
In September of the same year, Ghosn came to China, thousands of miles away, and announced an ambitious medium-term plan, which is planned to reach 6.5438+0.4 million vehicles in 2022.
After Ghosn fled, the alliance was in turmoil, and sales and financial performance declined again and again. Of course, some people think that this is the "sequela" left by Ghosn.
According to the early warning issued by Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., it is estimated that there will be a net loss in fiscal year 20 19, which is the first time that Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.1/year has suffered a loss.
In February this year, the bond rating of Renault Group was downgraded to junk by Moody's. The French Finance Minister even publicly stated that Renault Group might "disappear" without government assistance.
At the same time, Mitsubishi Motors' annual report for fiscal year 20 19 (April 20 19 to March 2020) shows that its operating profit dropped by 88.6% to1280,000 yen (about RMB 844 million), with a net loss of 25.78 billion yen (about RMB/Kloc).
From the perspective of power struggle and company performance, it seems imperative to implement the opposite strategy to Ghosn.
In Ghosn's era, the key words of Renault-Nissan alliance were "merger" and "expansion".
Now, the key words of the alliance have become "cooperation" and "contraction".
▌ From merger to cooperation, from expansion to contraction
Ghosn has always pursued a strong merger strategy, hoping that Renault and Nissan can maximize integration. According to insiders, Ghosn integrated several departments of Renault and Nissan, and let the heads of these departments report directly to him. Ghosn is the final arbiter.
However, this was strongly resisted by Nissan. There is a faction within Nissan (that is, the faction that lost power after Ghosn stepped down) that integration leads to inefficiency and must be reformed.
The promotion of the merger strategy also directly led to Ghosn's imprisonment and the "separation" of the alliance.
Now, the tense situation has been eased.
"We don't need a merger, it's not an efficient merger," Senard said at a news conference.
(Chairman Renault, the new generation leader of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance)
This is not "retreat", but retreat.
Most importantly, the new leader seems to think that the opposite strategy to Ghosn can achieve the same goal.
"I bet that in a few years, given what we are doing now, this alliance will become the most powerful company combination in the world." Senard said.
In addition, Ghosn once praised the growth strategy, especially on the development path of Nissan in the United States.
Now, Nissan is planning to cut the production capacity of 6.5438+0 million vehicles. In other words, the ambitious 6.5438+0.4 million vehicles have now become more rational 6.5438+0 million vehicles.
Of course, cutting production capacity will inevitably mean closing factories and laying off employees. Although the relevant details were not disclosed at this medium-term strategy conference, according to foreign media reports recently, Renault plans to lay off 5,000 people by 2024 to save 2 billion euros (about 220 million US dollars). At the same time, Nissan is planning to cut one of the production lines of two automobile assembly plants in the United States to reduce the annual cost of 300 billion yen (about 2.79 billion US dollars).
At the press conference, Hadi Zab Park Jung Su, secretary general of the alliance, said: "The previous strategy focused on growth and quantity ... (Now) we try our best to focus on the differentiated model to achieve growth." "Today, we enjoy a wider cooperation between brands."
Who leads who follows?
Whether it is "cooperation" or "contraction", the concrete implementation is "leader-follower mode"
The so-called "leader-follower model" means that each has its own division of labor and allows professional people to do professional things. According to different regions, the strong lead and the weak follow.
The goal of the alliance is that by 2025, nearly half of cars will adopt this new model for R&D and production, so as to reduce the investment of each model by 40% and save up to 20% in the field of technology enjoyment.
A key point is that in the future, the alliance will not focus on increasing production, but will produce models more efficiently. By 2025, the number of models produced by the alliance is expected to decrease by 20%.
You know, Ghosn has always advocated developing as many and richer models as possible.
Under the strategy of divide and rule, the alliance also named different regional markets around the world as "benchmarking areas". In the future, Nissan will be the market leader in China, Japan and North America, Renault will be responsible for Europe, Russia, South America and North Africa, and Mitsubishi will be responsible for Southeast Asia and Oceania.
Taking models as an example, after 2025, Nissan will dominate the C-class SUV market in Europe and Russia, Renault will dominate the update of future B-class SUV models, and Renault will dominate light commercial vehicles and B-class cars in the future.
The advantage of this is mutual benefit. As Senard said, "the leader-follower model is not to make each other competitors, but to make each alliance partner a leader in the automobile industry."
In addition, the three parties also have their own division of labor in the fields of platform, powertrain and key technologies:
Nissan is responsible for autonomous driving, Renault is responsible for the Android platform of car networking, and Nissan is responsible for the development of intelligent networking technology in China;
Nissan is responsible for the powertrain of large gasoline vehicles and small cars, Renault is responsible for the powertrain of small gasoline vehicles and diesel vehicles, and Mitsubishi is responsible for the powertrain of C/D plug-in hybrid vehicles;
On the platform side, Nissan is responsible for small cars CMF-C/D and CMF-EV, while Renault is responsible for CMF-A and CMF-B. ..
"The new strategy will allow each alliance member to enhance its core competence and benefit from the competence of other companies, with the aim of improving profitability and competitiveness." Senard said.
The last question left is, will the negotiations on comprehensive merger be revived in the future?
"No one knows. Everyone must be prepared for this. " Reuters quoted a source as saying, "But as far as I know, Renault and Nissan are no longer pursuing full merger. I have not considered this at present. "
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.