Is the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance coming to an end? This could be the case, if a report by Bloomberg is right. Citing unidentified sources, the news agency said Nissan is reportedly looking to sell some or all of its 34% stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC).
The report said that Japan’s third-largest automaker could sell its stake to a Mitsubishi group company such as Mitsubishi Corporation, which owns a fifth of MMC. Such a move would reshape the three-way alliance, which is only four years old, and of which much was expected.
In May 2016, Nissan became MMC’s largest shareholder when it acquired a 34% equity stake in the latter for 237 billion yen in the wake of MMC’s fuel economy scandal, which hit the automaker hard. In October that year, MMC was formally incorporated into the Nissan-Renault Alliance as a full member.
The Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the alliance, which was already shaken by the business surrounding former chairman Carlos Ghosn before the coronavirus arrived to amplify the situation further. All three partners have reported losses, and the forecasts aren’t positive either.
In May, Nissan reported a net loss of 671 billion yen (RM26.4 billion) for fiscal 2019, its worst in 20 years, and had in July forecast that it expected to post a similar 670 billion yen net loss in 2020. Last week, the automaker – which is 43% owned by Renault – cut its operating loss forecast for the year to March by 28%, saying that restructuring efforts and better than expected sales in China were helping.
Mitsubishi, Japan’s sixth-largest automaker, reported a 25.78 billion yen (RM1.04 billion) net loss for 2019, and says it is anticipating a net loss of 360 billion yen (RM14.4 billion) for fiscal 2020. Meanwhile, Renault posted a record 7.29 billion euro loss for the first half of 2020, and has said that it may have to implement further cost-cutting measures on top of the two billion euro cost cuts it has already set in motion.
In May, the alliance reaffirmed their commitment and announced several initiatives as part of a new cooperation business model to enhance the competitiveness and profitability of all three players. It was planned to build on existing alliance benefits in areas such as joint purchasing and also cement standardisation strategies further by introducing a leader-follower scheme for vehicle production.
Besides taking the lead for particular models that they’re strong in, each of the member companies would be in charge of “reference regions” as well, with Nissan being the reference for China, North America and Japan, while Renault would do the same in Europe, Russia, South America and North Africa, and MMC in ASEAN and Oceania. Whether this will now happen in its entirety is up in the air, given the potential move.
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Jual to China! Wahahahaha!!! Big question is, will Geely even want this failed brand? Nama pun sudah busuk no thanks to their involvement with that scandal in booting out Ghosn.
Geely ended up buying Proton, which wasnt doing that well pre-2018
Geely only buy brands that has hidden potential to grow like Volvo and Proton. Brands that has no more value like Mitsubishi is trash to them.
Geely ord buy brands to grow in europe like Volvo and south asia like Proton..Brands that has superb potential value in japan like Mitsubishi..
Nah, the Ghosn backstab already scare most outside investors away. That case showed to the world Japanese directors will never truly accept a gaijin as their leader. They rather have a weak Japanese CEO than a strong outsider, as shown by Nissan changing CEOs multiple times after Ghosn.
Apa Nama sudah lagi busuk dr Proton.. Geely Proton – Mitsubishi…
Copy paste: “It would be funny if Geely would somehow be involved, and Mitsubishi would take Proton models to rebadge.”
If cannot divorce lah…dont prolong the suffering.Donald the trump maybe divorcing after being thrown out of the white house on Jan 20.The automakers all have very differing philosophies.East and west dont meet at Timbaktu.Look at steady Toyota.
Dont have a marriage of convenience.It wont last.
If this is true and somehow Proton gets involved….
Proton has been divorced by Mitsubishi before.They partner geely,the white knight ,cos they are already technically bankrupt requiring countless bailouts.
Geely is bringing their complete range of vehicles,phasing out the ancient campro powered cars.
So,P1 ..just be faithful to your white knight.
Copy paste: “It would be funny if Geely would somehow be involved, and Mitsubishi would take Proton models to rebadge.”
Year 2021 Plot twist: Proton which was 30% owned by Mitsubishi in 1985, now owns 34% of Mitsubishi
Sell to whom?
The only suitor would be the parent Mitsu Corp or Mitsu Heavy Industries.
As an automotive company it has zero new tech to share, and no countries that it has a big market share.
It would be funny if Geely would somehow be involved, and Mitsubishi would take Proton models to rebadge.
nissan long time no longer belong to jap, sooner later mitsubishi also
p1 buy mmc pls. show them who the boss
Just my personal view, if MC & its keiretsu decided to purchase back the 34% shares of MMC from Nissan then I suspect they may put MMC together with Isuzu in which currently MC is the biggest shareholders and maybe UD Trucks which will be absorb by Isuzu will be linked as well. Worst case scenario; it will be RTO in which MMC + Isuzu + Nissan (incl.UD Trucks (formerly Nissan Diesel).
Geely got a bargain for proton. It paid less than USD50 million in cash (plus giving the boyue platform to proton) for 49% of proton.
In turn we got RM 1Billion in a new Regional R&D Center and smart partnerships like these https://paultan.org/2020/11/16/aco-tech-joint-venture-between-proton-ecarx-and-altel-to-conduct-car-connectivity-rd-in-malaysia/
I do wonder who benefited from who, or did both synergistically benefits, win-win for all?