Mitsubishi Expands Renault-Nissan Deal, Three New Models Coming

Mitsubishi has broadened its alliance with Nissan to include the wider Renault-Nissan group, in its push to develop three new models. 

A new sub-light all-electric city car is on the cards for the new alliance, while new small and large Mitsubishi sedans will be built on Renault platforms.

The larger Latitude-sized sedan will be aimed initially at the US and Canadian markets, with production to take place at the Renault-Samsung plant in South Korea.

As for the smaller sedan, discussions have only just begun, although it's possible the model-sharing project could give life to the next Mitsubishi Lancer.

Details for the sub-light model are also thin on the ground at this stage, but an all-electric model for global markets is expected.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Mitsubishi have also confirming plans to share technological advancements, particularly relating to electric vehicles.

"Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors have jointly benefited from several collaborations in the past, most recently the successful joint-venture on ‘Kei’ cars in Japan,” President and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Carlos Ghosn, said.  

“I welcome the direction being taken towards this broader cooperation, creating new opportunities for Renault in addition to further leveraging the productive relationship between Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors."

President of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, Osamu Masuko, said that he was pleased to see the existing partnership with Nissan expanded.

"The new opportunities could be described as evidence that the ongoing collaborative projects between Mitsubishi Motors and Nissan have brought positive results, and Mitsubishi Motors hopes that any new collaborative projects with the Renault-Nissan Alliance would bring us further merits," Mr Masuko said.

Nissan and Mitsubishi have an existing joint-venture company called “NMKV”, with the first models from the partnership – the Nissan Dayz and Mitsubishi eK wagon – going on sale in Japan this year.