Renault, Nissan to Merge Manufacturing Operations

Renault SA and partner Nissan Motor Co. expect to slash annual costs €2.8 billion (400 billion yen) by jointly managing product development and fully sharing manufacturing facilities worldwide, The Nikkei reports.

The alliance partners will appoint a single manager to oversee production as soon as April, according to the Tokyo-based newspaper, which cites no sources. It says the companies intend to adopt a similar structure for their product development activities.

The ultimate goal is to enable the partners to produce multiple models and each other's vehicles in Nissan's 25 factories and Renault's 20 plants. Their third partner, Russia's OAO AvtoVAZ, is expected to be a part of the global integration.

Renault and Nissan will launch the flexible manufacturing system as early as 2015 at a factory in India, according to The Nikkei. It says the facility will have annual capacity to build 400,000 vehicles for both brands. By 2020 the partners hope to debut mixed-model production in more than 10 countries.

The companies, which began their alliance in 1999, estimate that other shared activities saved them €2.7 billion (382 billion yen) in 2012.