Renault in No Rush to Rebalance Nissan Alliance

Renault SA Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard says his priority is to strengthen the company’s alliance with Nissan Motor Co., not to rebalance the equity structure of their partnership.

“We need to bring Nissan back on track,” he tells reporters, referring to the company’s sales and profit struggles. Nissan’s net income dropped 57% in the year ended April 30 and plunged 95% in the first quarter of its new fiscal year.

But Nissan considers a rebalance of cross ownership a long-overdue and critical step toward ensuring a positive future for the 20-year-old alliance.

Nissan has grumbled for years about the partnership’s unbalanced ownership. Renault owns a 43% voting stake in Nissan, and Nissan holds a 15% nonvoting stake in Renault.

The deal made sense when it began in 1999 and Renault was saving Nissan from bankruptcy. But now the Japanese carmaker is the larger and more global of the partners. Two years ago Nissan also added its Mitsubishi Motors affiliate to the alliance, further increasing its sales contribution.