Renault Vows to Fix Nissan Alliance Next Year

Renault SA Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard declares his goal is to repair and relaunch the company’s strained partnership with Nissan Motor Co. next year.

“My obsession is for the alliance to take off in 2020,” he tells France’s Inter radio network. If the companies can’t extract the full potential of the 20-year-old partnership by then, he says, “I will consider it to be a failure.”

Senard repeats that reviving merger talks with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is not a primary concern. Nor is responding to Nissan’s continuing request for a rebalance of the equity structure for their partnership.

Senard, who was named to replace Carlos Ghosn early this year, says he found the alliance in worse shape than he expected. The problems, he concedes, “will take time to mend.”