evo_soul

By Chang-Ran Kim, Asia autos correspondent
TOKYO | Tue Dec 14, 2010 2:54am EST
(Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) and Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T) said they would deepen their operational ties to make better use of their resources as a strong yen makes competing tougher for Japanese automakers.

Nissan and Mitsubishi, Japan's No.3 and No.6 automakers in 2009, have been working together since 2003, mainly involving Mitsubishi Motors' building 660cc minivehicles under Nissan's badge in Japan.

Automakers around the world are actively seeking operational partnerships to save costs by sharing vehicle platforms and components. Nissan and its 43 percent owner, Renault (RENA.PA), earlier this year joined hands with Daimler (DAIGn.DE) to share vehicles and engines with the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars.

As yen strength persists and domestic sales contract, Japanese automakers are losing money producing vehicles at home and are looking for ways to trim costs, including shifting at least some production to lower-cost markets overseas.

But they are also under political pressure to protect jobs at home and keep factories in Japan open.

Under the new agreement, Nissan will provide a light van to Mitsubishi Motors for the Japanese market, while Mitsubishi will supply an SUV to Nissan for sale in the Middle East, they said.

Discussions are also underway for the production of Nissan's Navara pickup truck at Mitsubishi's Thai factory, and for the establishment of a 50-50 joint venture to develop and produce 660cc minivehicles for Japan.

Nissan said it was also considering providing Mitsubishi Motors with higher-end models in Japan.

"This agreement is important for Nissan as it supports our expansion in emerging markets, meets immediate needs overseas, and enables us to grow our minicar business in Japan," Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn told a joint news conference with his Mitsubishi counterpart, Osamu Masuko.

"In the global auto industry, cooperation on specific projects among automakers is becoming increasingly common. It is a signal of how our industry is evolving to sustain success over the long term," Ghosn said.

Both presidents said they were not considering a capital tie-up, but added they would continue to look for more opportunities for cooperation.

Earlier this year, Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) also said it would enter the minivehicle segment, which is unique to Japan and accounts for 35 percent of the shrinking market.

MITSUBISHI MOTORS SHARES SOAR

To reduce costs, Nissan has already started to import the March subcompact sold in Japan from Thailand this year, while Mitsubishi Motors plans to do the same with its "Global Small" car to be built in the Southeast Asian nation from 2012.

News of the joint news conference pushed shares of Mitsubishi Motors up 8.5 percent to 128 yen by the close of trade in what one analyst attributed to buying by retail investors sensitive to news flow on the low-priced stock.

evo_soul

Below is an interesting read about the evolving relationship between Nissan and Mitsu... stay tuned for more developments. http://www.evwind.es/noticias.php?id_not=9069

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Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors to Expand Scope of Cooperation by Carlos Ghosn

december 21, 2010

The two companies that have done most to the development of electric vehicles and lithium batteries, shake their cooperation. Great news for electric car development.



In the global auto industry, cooperation on specific projects among automakers is becoming increasingly common. It is, in fact, a signal of how our industry is evolving to sustain success over the long term – by leveraging size, scale and investments more effectively to create more value.
Nissan has a history of working with other companies and developing a range of partnerships based on specific needs and shared objective.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance is the prime example, and the spirit of the alliance is at the core of the network of collaboration that has since been established – with Dongfeng in China, Ashok Leyland in India and, more recently, Daimler in Germany and AvtoVAZ in Russia.

While we share our strengths to improve our mutual competitiveness, we do so while respecting the integrity of each company’s brands, products and corporate cultures. The announcement that Masuko-san and I are making today is fully in line with this pattern.

We are pleased to announce a cooperation agreement that will increase the competitiveness of Nissan and Mitsubishi in Asia and bring greater value to our companies, our stakeholders and, particularly, our customers.

For Nissan, this cooperation agreement is strategically significant in four key ways.

It will support our strategy of expansion in emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East…help fulfill immediate capacity needs where demand for our products is strong… provide a profitable solution for a next-generation vehicle…and help us strengthen our business in Japan.

All these actions will optimize the existing synergies we have with Mitsubishi and develop further into engineering, product development and manufacturing opportunities.

Let me explain our shared projects.

In the Middle East and Asia, we will expand our OEM exchanges by adding new products.

Mitsubishi will provide a sport utility vehicle for Nissan in the Middle East. In turn, Nissan will provide a light van model to Mitsubishi for the Japanese domestic market.

This is a natural evolution of the many OEM agreements Nissan and Mitsubishi have shared since 2003, particularly in the LCV segment.

Next, we are moving forward in our discussion of projects that will optimize the engineering and production capabilities of our two companies.

Nissan has capacity needs in Thailand due to overwhelming demand for the all-new Nissan March.

To better accommodate that demand with our Thai plant, we will move the production of our 1-ton-pick-up Navara, a best-seller in the ASEAN region, from our plant to Mitsubishi’s plant in Thailand.

Looking to the next generation of electric vehicles with lithium ion batteries, we are studying the joint development of a next-generation of 1-ton pick-up truck with Mitsubishi.

Finally, we expect to achieve additional synergies by sharing development and parts.

Turning our attention to sales in the Japanese market, we will also collaborate on the planning and development of an all-new-K-car.

We will create a joint-venture that will better support our long-term solution to growing minicar sales in Japan, a segment that now represents 35% of the market. A joint-venture structure will enhance Nissan’s involvement in the upstream concept phase of product planning to better reflect our customers’ needs.

With the cooperation agreement we are announcing today, Nissan and Mitsubishi will ensure that the synergies that have been outlined will be executed with discipline and focus.

We will use each company’s strengths and areas of expertise with more efficiency and effectiveness.

And we will be able to allocate and invest more resources into our specific strategic businesses while enhancing other areas with the support of our partner.

We are eager to move forward with Mitsubishi to a higher level of performance that will meet the needs of the customers we serve.

By Carlos Ghosn, Renault-Nissan Alliance Chairman and CEO,www.nissan-global.com, www.mitsubishi-motors.com

Crester

So to summarize those two lengthy articles… times are tough now for Japanese car makers… and they are trying to stay financially successful by teaming up with other companies. So if one company is better at building a certain type of car than the other… then that company would produce that type of car for the other car company.

I guess if it makes car companies more successful then it’s okay to share stuff. I rather they just share technology tho as opposed to entire cars. I don’t think I really want to see a Mitsubishi Diamante sedan for sale again and then just find out that it’s a Nissan Maxima with a Mitsubishi badge slapped on it. Or the reverse… see a new Nissan Sentra SE-R… and later find out it’s just a Mitsubishi Ralliart with a Nissan badge slapped on it. I don’t mind if a company for example shares an engine… or suspension components… or other PARTS of a car. But I think it’s lazy if one company builds a car which is sold under multiple brands.

Let’s see some examples… the VW Routan minivan which flopped… was just a Chrysler minivan with a VW face/badge on it. Suzuki’s pick up is just a rebadged Nissan Frontier… and if you open the hood… you will actually see Nissan badges!

Enjoi

Disagree...

Crester

Ok... Suzuki is on the engine cover... but I remember looking in the engine bay and seeing Nissan's name.