Renault Nissan tie-up completes 15 years

Renault-Nissan tie-up has completed 15 successful years, the collaboration started in 1999 when Renault purchased 36.8 per cent shares in Nissan. Nissan was on verge of bankruptcy when Renault bought 36.8 per cent shares. Both the companies have touched global sales mark of 8.3 million which was nearly half at 4.8 millions in 1999.

Presently, French auto maker Renault owns a stake of 43.4 per cent in Nissan while the Japanese firm has a stake of 15 per cent in Renault. Both the companies have also made their presence felt in Indian automotive industry. They have a manufacturing unit in Oragadam, located in the outskirts of Chennai which has a manufacturing capacity of 400,000 units. The production capacity is divided equally between both the auto makers-Renault and Nissan. Renault-Nissan's plant was inaugurated in 2010, it took two years to build the facility work for which started in 2008.

Renault ventured into domestic market in 2005 in joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra. In 2007, Mahindra Renault launched Logan which could not continue to deliver good results. Therefore in 2010, Mahindra bought Renault's shares and both the companies decided on parting ways. Mahindra is still selling Logan with a new name 'Verito', under the license agreement inked by Renault, it still supplies key components to Mahindra for manufacturing Verito.

After a failed attempt to make it big in India under a joint venture with Mahindra, Renault made a solo entry in India in 2011. Fluence sedan was the first car to be rolled out from Renault's stable in India followed by Koleos premium SUV, B segment hatchback Pulse, Renault Duster compact SUV and Renault Scala sedan. Duster is till date the most successful model produced by Renault in India giving a tough competition to EcoSport.

Nissan has been catering to the needs of Indian customers since 2005, its first car, Teana was launched in India in 2007 which is still available for sale as a CBU. Nissan Micra, the B segment hatchback was inducted in 2010 followed by Nissan Sunny sedan which garnered good response initially, in 2012 Evalia MPV was launched followed by Nissan Terrano that made its India debut in 2013.

Nissan India and Renault India had been using badge engineering since 2010, they have been offering same cars with infinitesimal changes made to the respective cars. Renault Pulse and Renault Scala are modified versions of Micra and Sunny respectively. However, in 2013 both the companies agreed on not sharing products in India after the launch of Nissan Terrano which is based on Duster.