Following the news that Renault has again attempted to integrate with Nissan, a proposal that Nissan is expected to reject, as reported in Nikkei Asian Review; Calum MacRae, Director of Automotive Product Development at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“It’s a high-stake game that Nissan is playing here. Vehicle manufacturers need the low-cost manufacturing advantage that scale brings like never before because of the intense capital demands of the automotive megatrends of connected, autonomous, sharing and electrification. Throughout the industry, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers are expected to embark on a new round of joint ventures, alliances and M&A to address these issues.

“Already in the past six months we’ve seen Ford and VW strengthening ties and BMW and Daimler merging their new mobility activities. An unravelling of the alliance would push both Renault and Nissan back into the chasing pack behind VW, Toyota and Hyundai.”