Renault and Daimler are moving forward with a number of joint projects for the supply of vehicles and engines in 2015. The latest include Renault’s supply of motors from its plant in Cleon to Daimler for use in electric versions of the German carmaker’s Smart city cars, which are made at its plant in Hambach. The motor is the same one used in the Renault Zoe and will now be installed in versions of the both the Smart Fortwo and Smart Forfour. In addition, the battery for the new Smart electric drive will be produced by the Daimler subsidiary, Deutsche ACCUmotive, in Kamenz, Germany.
Renault-Nissan and Daimler signed an agreement in 2010 for vehicle and engine developments.
The electric versions of the city cars have been on the market for nearly a year, according to Renault. Along with the Renault Twingo, they were the first vehicles built on a common platform between Daimler and the Alliance.
Neither company was prepared to comment further on the latest arrangement but it is one of a number of agreements the two companies have made so far in 2015.
As announced last year, Renault’s Alliance partner Nissan is building a $1 billion plant with Daimler in Aguascalientes, Mexico for production of the next-generation premium compact vehicles for Nissan’s Infiniti brand and for Mercedes-Benz, which will begin in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The plant is projected to make more than 230,000 vehicles a year by 2020.
Daimler and Nissan have also announced they will develop the first Mercedes-Benz entry into the pickup segment. The 1-ton truck will be built at the by Nissan in the Renault plant in Cordoba, Argentina, along with the Nissan NP300 with which it will share some of its architecture. The vehicle will be engineered and designed by Daimler to meet the specific needs of its customers in Europe, Australia, South Africa and Latin America, to where the truck will be exported. The Cordoba plant will also build a 1-ton Renault truck for Latin America.
The three trucks will also be built at the Nissan Barcelona plant in Spain.
“Since the start of our cooperation in 2010, our joint projects have created value for our customers worldwide, said Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars. “This year we further deepened the collaboration and announced two completely new projects. We cooperate when it is mutually beneficial. And that is the way we will keep it.”
Last year the two companies signed a contract that sees Nissan supplying Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC), a subsidiary of Daimler, with its NV350 Urvan, which is made in Japan. The Urvan will be rebadged as MFTBC’s Canter van and exported to the Middle East.
