Collaboration between Daimler and Renault-Nissan advances globally, CEOs say

FRANKFURT, Germany, Sept. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- 

• Portfolio of jointly developed major projects has jumped from three to ten
• Nissan and Daimler have completed factory building for the joint production of engines in the USA

The chief executives of the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler AG said today that their companies' partnership is advancing quickly, and the scope of the collaboration is increasingly global.

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The French-Japanese-German partnership began in April 2010, with three "pillar projects" primarily focused on Europe. Since then, the portfolio has increased to ten significant projects, including major initiatives from North America to Japan. In addition, relevant business units are working together in best-practice sharing and other forms of cooperation.

"While our initial collaboration focused strongly on European projects, we are now focusing on synergies in all key markets", Renault-Nissan Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn said today at an annual media briefing on the partnership. "The largest economies of scale are always global."

"We will continue to seek out new projects together that make sense for all partners and, most importantly, our customers", Daimler CEO and Head of Mercedes Benz Cars Dieter Zetsche said.

The CEOs cited the joint production of Mercedes-Benz four-cylinder gasoline engines in Decherd (Tennessee, USA) as a good example of how the partners profit from the cooperation. Just one and a half years after the groundbreaking in May 2012, the factory building for the joint production of Mercedes-Benz four-cylinder gasoline engines is now complete. Production machinery is now being installed and the start of production is planned for mid-2014. The engines produced in Decherd will then be used in the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which is produced at the Daimler plant in Tuscaloosa (Alabama, USA), and in new Infiniti products.

Joint development work is also proceeding on schedule for a new family of shared three- and four-cylinder gasoline engines with turbocharging and direct fuel injection. The engines will make use of the latest technology and will have significantly improved fuel consumption.

Another example of the successful cooperation on engine development is the new Infiniti Q50, which was presented in Geneva this spring and will be available as of the fall. It is the first Infiniti automobile to have a powertrain comprising a diesel engine and automatic transmission from the cooperation with Daimler.

The first vehicles resulting from the collaboration, including the Mercedes-Benz Citan van, are already on the road. In addition, Infiniti will offer a vehicle using components from Daimler's compact car architecture starting 2015. The components will be used in a brand specific way. The Q30 concept car can be seen for the first time at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

The cooperation is continuing also in the field of commercial vehicles. It is planned that the unit of Daimler Trucks Asia, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC), will be supplied with Nissan's NV350 Urvan commercial vans to be sold under Mitsubishi Fuso in selected export markets.

This type of strategic supply has been successfully implemented since early 2013 also for light-duty trucks to expand their respective product portfolio into new segments: the FUSO Canter Guts light-duty truck (payload: 2.0 tons) is supplied to Nissan and the Nissan Atlas F24 light-duty truck (payload 1.5 tons) is supplied to Mitsubishi Fuso. This cross-supply volume initially amounts to about 1,300 units for the Japanese market.

The smart/Twingo project is also progressing as planned. Production will begin soon on the new two-seater smart at the smart plant in Hambach (France) and of the four-seater smart and the Renault Twingo successor model at the Renault plant in Novo Mesto (Slovenia). Market launch of the model versions is planned for the second half of 2014. The new generations of the smart and the Renault Twingo are being developed on the basis of a shared architecture, but will remain independent products with an unmistakable brand appearance. A show car of the new smart four-seater ("smart fourjoy") was presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show this Monday.

ABOUT THE RENAULT-NISSAN ALLIANCE

The Renault-Nissan Alliance is a strategic partnership between Renault (based in Paris, France) and Nissan (based in Yokohama, Japan), which together sell one in ten cars worldwide. Renault and Nissan have been strategic partners since 1999 and sold 8.1 million cars in nearly 200 countries in 2012. The Alliance operates strategic collaborations with numerous automakers, including Germany's Daimler, China's Dong Feng, and with regional manufacturers such as Ashok Leyland in India.

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ABOUT DAIMLER

Daimler AG is one of the world's most successful automotive companies. With its divisions Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Trucks, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Daimler Buses and Daimler Financial Services, the Daimler Group is one of the biggest producers of premium cars and the world's biggest manufacturer of commercial vehicles with a global reach. Daimler Financial Services provides financing, leasing, fleet management, insurance and innovative mobility services. The company's founders, Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz, made history with the invention of the automobile in the year 1886. As a pioneer of automotive engineering, Daimler continues to shape the future of mobility today: The Group's focus is on innovative and green technologies as well as on safe and superior automobiles that appeal to and fascinate its customers. For many years now, Daimler has been investing continually in the development of alternative drive systems with the goal of making emission-free driving possible in the long term. So in addition to vehicles with hybrid drive, Daimler now has the broadest range of locally emission-free electric vehicles powered by batteries and fuel cells. This is just one example of how Daimler willingly accepts the challenge of meeting its responsibility towards society and the environment. Daimler sells its vehicles and services in nearly all the countries of the world and has production facilities on five continents. Its current brand portfolio includes, in addition to the world's most valuable premium automotive brand, Mercedes-Benz, the brands smart, Freightliner, Western Star, BharatBenz, Fuso, Setra and Thomas Built Buses. The company is listed on the stock exchanges of Frankfurt and Stuttgart (stock exchange symbol DAI). In 2012, the Group sold 2.2 million vehicles and employed a workforce of 275,000 people; revenue totaled €114.3 billion and EBIT amounted to €8.6 billion.

Further information on Daimler is available at www.media.daimler.com and www.daimler.com

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SOURCE Daimler Corporate Communications