Renault-Nissan typical automobile alliances badly at ease East-West

The arrest of former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has raised doubts about the future of the alliance between Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors, which he helped to forge. Such partnerships evolve over time, but they have gained importance as companies develop electric vehicles, Internet connectivity and artificial intelligence of vehicles.

Ghosn was arrested on November 19 in Tokyo on suspicion of underreporting his income and other financial misconduct. The boards of directors of Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motor Corp. voted unanimously to remove him from his position as president, while the French group Renault SA kept him while seeking more information on his case.

With the disappearance of Ghosn, speculation grows. Nissan could review its alliance with Renault. Renault owns 43% of Nissan's capital, while the latter owns 15%, while the French State also holds 15% of the capital. Renault saved Nissan from bankruptcy in 1999, but the Japanese manufacturer is now more profitable than its French partner.

This is not the first time that East-West auto alliances in Japan are counterproductive, highlighting the challenges of such collaborations. Here are some other covenants and why they went to bed:

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Ford and Mazda

The US automaker Ford Motor Co. helped to organize the turnaround of the Japanese company Mazda Motor Corp. forming an alliance in 1979 with an equity stake of 25%. This figure was raised to 33.4% in 1996, which was considered a majority share in Japan.

Ford has sent executives and shared technologies and auto parts to help reduce Mazda's struggling costs. But the American manufacturer had its own problems and became greedy for cash. Mazda started to buy stakes by spending 17.8 billion yen (about $ 150 million at the current exchange rate) to buy back 6.8% of its own shares in 2008. The US automaker, based in Dearborn, has Michigan, renounced its position as the largest shareholder in Mazda in 2010 and no longer holds any interest in Mazda.

Ford executives who have been with Mazda for the last three decades include Henry Wallace, the first foreigner to head a large Japanese company, and Mark Fields, who will later become Ford's CEO. Japanese leaders took over in 2003, after Mazda insiders cheered themselves up.

Mazda, based in Hiroshima, recently entered into a partnership with Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp., investing in a factory manufacturing vehicles for both brands in the United States and sharing their technology.

General Motors and Toyota

The 50/50 joint venture plant between Toyota Motor Corp. and the American manufacturer General Motors Co., based in Fremont, California, California, began producing cars in 1984 and has been proclaimed a pioneer in international collaboration.

Known as NUMMI or New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc., this factory has inspired great stories about how American workers have learned and are proud of Toyota's highly efficient production methods.

Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota's founder, who now heads Toyota, worked at NUMMI from 1998 to 2000, along with other Toyota executives, to prepare them for an industry in full swing. globalization and an increasingly diverse workforce.

But the NUMMI factory, which was producing the Pontiac Vibe and Chevrolet Nova, closed in 2010 after the collapse of General Motors and the withdrawal of Toyota, transferring production to other plants in North America.

Daimler Chrysler and Mitsubishi Motors

German-American The automaker Daimler Chrysler acquired a 37% stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp., a Tokyo-based company, in 2000, but the alliance was rocky from the start. Mitsubishi Motors has been involved in a scandal that has lasted years about the systematic concealment of its automotive defects.

Rolf Eckrodt, sent by Daimler Chrysler, stepped down as chief at Mitsubishi in 2004. The Mitsubishi group has gradually resumed its stake in Mitsubishi and Ghosn made a 34% purchase by Nissan in 2016, following another scandal.

Daimler Chrysler has never managed to settle the debt and late sales of Mitsubishi Motors, but even the "merger of equals" that created Daimler Chrysler (a true takeover by Daimler of the US automaker) did not never really worked and ended in 2007 Daimler sold Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management.