Nissan 2007 Annual Report Download - page 8

Nissan Annual Report 2006-2007
6
The targets outlined in the Nissan Value-Up plan for
sustainable growth would be far harder to achieve
without the close and continuing cooperation of our
Alliance partner, Renault. With CEO Carlos Ghosn
leading the executive committees of both companies,
the Alliance has become an even greater source of
global insight and solutions.
A distillation of best practices from two
companies is much more potent than what one alone
can produce. The Alliance board meets regularly to
develop strategy and to share perspectives on major
industry issues and opportunities.
Because its scope remains open and flexible, the
Alliance has generated a wide spectrum of projects
and initiatives. For example, one core benefit of the
Alliance is the capacity to carry out in-depth
benchmarking that would not be possible with a third
party. Nissan and Renault’s joint transparency policy
encourages such disclosures, giving us the
advantage of a dual angle on problems and their
potential solutions.
The Alliance presents opportunities in engineering
as well. We have collaborated on powertrain
development, for example, giving both Renault and
Nissan the chance to refine a fundamental
component of the carmaking craft. Across functions
and borders, our engineers are inspiring each other to
devise the vehicles of the future.
Further optimization of the Alliance in areas such
as distribution and shared production capacity lowers
cost and risk—factors that will help us expand faster
in the largely untapped General Overseas Markets
(GOM). Where one partner has a presence and the
other does not, the support and market knowledge is
there to be shared. For a totally new market or
segment, we discuss the best way to enter. Two
recent examples of Alliance cooperation are:
• New diesel engines with market-changing
potential. One is the M1D, a 2.0-liter common-rail
diesel that began rolling out across the Renault
and Nissan ranges in 2006. Another is an all-new
clean diesel engine that will debut in the United
States in 2010 in the Nissan Maxima. This
engine, part of a concerted effort to reduce CO2
emissions and dependence on pure petroleum-
based fuels, will clear stringent U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency emissions requirements.
• In July 2007, Nissan Mexicana introduced a new
vehicle to the Mexican market called the Aprio.
This car is a variation of the Renault Logan
already being marketed in more than fifty
countries under the Renault and Dacia brands.
The Aprio is built at the Renault manufacturing
plant in Curitiba, Brazil, and is the most recent
example of the robust collaboration between
Renault and Nissan.
To make the Alliance thrive, Nissan and Renault
concentrate solely on opportunities with the potential to
benefit both partners. One example is shared sales
financing services in various markets, including Europe.
If a project is not mutually advantageous, we either find
a way to balance the return or abandon the venture.
In the end, the true worth of the Alliance springs
from its virtually limitless potential. We realize that we
each have our own strengths and goals, but that only
energizes us to discover where we can rely on each
other for support. We challenge each other, too, and
in doing so, move our businesses to a higher road.
RENAULT-NISSAN ALLIANCE
A Robust and Fruitful Alliance
The Renault Scenic (left) and Nissan Dualis