Nissan and Renault will share parts in new cars, cutting costs by 30%

Nissan and its partner Renault plan to share common parts for the next-generation models of the two companies, which can cut costs by approximately 30%.

　　 Common parts cut costs by 30%

　　 'Nihon Keizai Shimbun' said that the two companies are preparing to use common parts for the two small cars of Nissan Marci (March)/Micra and Renault Clio. From 2015, the new generation of Marci/Micra and Clio About 50% of the parts will be shared, which can reduce costs by 30%. Both vehicles use the Alliance B platform (Alliance B platform), also known as the Nissan B platform. They have inherent advantages in improving the versatility of parts and components. They will be produced at the Renault Flys plant in France around 2016.

After 　　, Renault and Nissan will expand the scope of sharing common parts. At present, it is mainly concentrated in the field of small cars, with annual sales of about 3 million vehicles, and will expand to other models in the future. Soon, the executives of the two companies will hold a meeting to finalize the strategy of adopting common parts from the design stage.

　　Renault and Nissan began to collaborate on mid-level car design four years ago, taking the new sports car as the first step. The purchasing staff of the two companies meet regularly to design common parts.

　　 With economic growth in emerging markets, environmental pollution has increased. The government requires automobiles to enhance environmental performance and reduce costs. General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen’s sales in emerging markets have grown rapidly, surpassing the current sales of the Renault-Nissan alliance, so Renault and Nissan have decided to strengthen cooperation in the field of small cars.

　　Nissan launches CMF

　　 In February 2012, Nissan launched a new generation of automotive universal design concept: CMF (Common Module Family). Nissan executives have said that the CMF system will be shared with Renault to a certain extent.

　　CMF divides the main parts of the car into four modules: engine compartment; cockpit; front chassis and rear chassis. After the electronic control components have built the electrical and electronic architecture, each module can be adjusted according to the weight of the vehicle and other factors. Designers then organically combine the modules to create models and car series with different positioning and levels; CMF can derive various compact cars, medium and large cars and SUV models according to the module configuration.

　　 Nissan said that under the CMF design concept, the degree of sharing of parts across models and platforms has been greatly increased, and the common proportion of parts will reach about 80%, which is twice the current level; the CMF design concept can be reduced Expenses and the role of accommodating the latest technology are estimated to help the company save 30% of development costs.

　　 Nissan’s senior vice president Yasuhiro Yamauchi announced that 60% of its models will be designed on the CMF platform by 2016, compared to 12% in 2013.

　　Modular Development Trend

　　 Today's car companies take modular platforms as their development direction. Platform modularization can effectively reduce development and manufacturing costs, and shorten man-hours, which has a significant effect on increasing the profits of car companies. 'Nihon Keizai Shimbun' cited multiple examples other than Renault-Nissan.

　　 Among Japanese automakers, Toyota plans to launch new cars based on the TNGA (Toyota New Global Architecture) platform in 2015, sharing 80% of parts and components, and increasing development efficiency by 20-30%. Honda, the other of the three Japanese giants, has increased the commonality of parts and components for the three best-selling main models, cutting procurement costs by 30%. Among European and American car companies, Volkswagen has launched the MQB modular engine horizontal platform, and the proportion of common parts can reach 70%.

　　 Although there are opinions that the scale of the recall may be astonishing after the adoption of generalized parts, a single defect of the generalized parts may affect a huge number of cars; however, Nissan said it is taking measures to avoid quality problems and supply chain problems. Nissan Motor’s executive vice president Hiroto Saikawa said: Our basic strategy is to avoid concentrating on one place for parts production and avoid purchasing a part from a single supplier.