Renault, Nissan and Daimler Join Forces to Develop EV for 2014

Renault, Nissan and Daimler have announced their intention to bring a jointly-devloped EV (electric vehicle) to market by 2014. The new EV venture was announced by Renault and Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn and Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche at a joint news conference at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Each partner is bringing something different to the project: Renault – Nissan will focus on engine technology, while Daimler’s focus will be the Lithium ion battery pack. Renault will base its version on the Twingo, whereas Daimler will be using the Smart model as its platform.

This is one of the fruit of the strategic partnership that Renault – Nissan and Daimler inked back in April 2010, and which also includes development of small cars as well as shared engines.

Nissan CEO Ghosn also announced  a new small car to be based on Daimler underpinnings and to be launched in 2014 under its luxury Infiniti brand. Nissan predicts that the move to smaller luxury cars will continue and that by using Daimler’s platform, it will be able to achieve efficiency gains in the development process. It is thought that the basis of this new Infiniti model will be Damiler’s Mercedes B Class.

Source: Nikkei