Car Advice

Renault-Nissan alliance celebrates 10 years

By Matt Brogan |

Renault-Nissan has yesterday celebrated 10 years of the alliance between the two firms.

The unique partnership has seen much in the way of shared development take place without either brand losing its identity.

“From the beginning, the Alliance has been based on the premise of trust and the pursuit of strategies aimed at profitable growth,” says Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of Renault and Nissan. “We continue to honor these principles, even as we are continually adapting to the current operating environment, which is severe. The Alliance is equipping Renault and Nissan not only to survive the global financial and economic crisis, but to be in a better position to compete effectively after this crisis ends. We are proud of all we have achieved in the past 10 years and we are looking forward to realising even more of our potential in the future. Leveraging our partnership fully in the Alliance, we will be taking further steps to deepen synergies between Renault and Nissan that will contribute to the profitable growth of each company.”

The Renault-Nissan Alliance will announce the complete list of synergies in May.


 
  • http://skyline The Salesman

    If it has been profitable, surly they can afford to give this guy a chair. The worst thing to come out of the alliance is the Nissan Tiida (or Renault Clio) Why change a name with a 30 year history? Pulsar was right up on the list for buyer’s right below Corolla. Stupid, stupid move. The next stupid move was getting that girl from s3x in the city to be the global ambassador. Good bye male buyers.

  • Falcodore

    All they need to do now is break down the doors of the design studio that the 10yr old kids locked themselves in and confiscate the modelling clay, then the can hire a REAL car designer ;)

  • Mark Greenburg

    They didn’t change the Pulsar name. The Tiida is a complete different car, and slots in below the previous Pulsar. It is one size smaller, and is comparable in size to the Barina and Yaris sedans. Why do you think it is priced so low, at $17,990? The Pulsar was always $19,990, except in it’s final year (2005) when it was lowered to $18,990, as a result partly of lowered import duty that year.

  • Falcodore

    MG, i think you’ll find the Tiida did replace the Pulsar and its in the same category as the Corolla, Mazda3 etc. The reason it is $17,990 is its sourced from Thialand (free trade agreement) whereas the Pulsar was sourced from Japan.

  • http://skyline The Salesman

    Mark,
    Point is off loading the name PULSAR. Don’t forget we are dealing with the public here. They are not very bright sparks and would not make the link between the two. Yes Tiida was a totally different car for Nissan. But rule number one is don’t confuse the public because they get angry and scared by change. When the Tiida was releaced it was $19,990.00 plus on roads, then $19,990.00 drive away. And so on until it got to $17,990.00 drive away. If they had keep the pulsar name it would still be $19,990.00

  • Dan

    The fact there is no Pulsar at all, the Tiida sort of fills in that part of the segment in Nissan’s lineup.

  • AAA

    The Tiida is a Yaris competitor else where but Aust.

    If Renault can’t sell any cars in Aust or the US, they are going to have a hard time shifting Nissans based on Renault platforms in those places.

  • Alan

    Not only is Tiida’s name change a stupid move, it was a sub standard car for the class. Seems like Nissan has lost interest in normal sedan and hatcback, both Tiida and Maxima has only modest sales compared to the market leaders and the Micra is quite old in its class. Seems like Nissan is focusing more on cross over vehicle nowdays with X-Trail, Dualis and Murao in particular along with its bigger SUVs.

    Interesting to see where Nissan will go next with many report suggesting the rise of SUV might be coming to an end. Hope Nissan will be able to produce cars more competitive in its respective class, right now, in Australia at least, it is relying mostly on X-Trail for sales in the passenger car department, and hasn’t really made many good class leading cars for awhile.

  • Dan

    Alan, let’s not forget the GTR. :) That car is right up there with the much more expensive supercars, and can stand its ground.

    Agreed though about the Tiida being a substandard car compared to the competition. It still comes with manual wind up windows as standard!

  • nobody

    Anyone know if Nissan is still planning to bring it’s luxury arm Infiniti over to Australia?

  • Ian

    Ghosn’s efforts in turning Nissan’s fortunes around have been truly impressive. The only thing holding Nissan back is crap design, and in Australia, inept and lazy marketing.

    On the subject of Tiida, this thing was just one big mistake. The name change and ridiculous original marketing campaign which alienated 50% of the population were stupid enough decisions, than add to the mix that it was an also-ran to drive, ugly as hell and originally too expensive (don’t forget that Nissan did market this thing as the Pulsar replacement and originally released at $19,990). No wonder the car and sales have been a joke.

    The Tiida name is damaged goods and is unlikely survive the next model change. Nissan Australia’s MD has openly said that he is keen for the Pulsar name to return on Nissan’s next small car. It’s up to Nissan Japan to give the OK and undo their original mistake of insisting on the original name change. One look at sales results should be enough reason to support the move.

  • Ravith

    I have an advice for Nissan.
    Bring back the lively name Pulsar, and base the design on it – but with a fresh design.
    Power up the engine to 2.0 L, to rank up beyond Civic or Corolla. Power 105-110 and torque 170-180. Give all the safety feature for base model, but avail luxury features for models up. tiida is really a dull person’s design – not giving ESP. 5 start ANACP rating DOES help.
    Could you sell it for 23000 (manual) and 25000 (auto) drive away?.
    All the faithful Pulsar people wouldn’t look elsewhere. But This renault euro guys laid you down badly selling this tedious tiida concept.

  • Alan

    Dan, of course i have not forgotten about GTR, that car is a beast and offers excellent value for money. Not to mention the 370z too, good looking (in my eyes), fast and cheap. However, outside of SUV and sports cars, the rest of Nissan’s line up is quite mediocre at best.

    On the subject of Tiida, not sure if anyone here is familiar with Bluebird Sylphy, but i sat in one when in Asia, and it feels much better made than the Tiida, with a much better interior. Not sure about the handling though as i’ve never driven one.

  • http://pirelli topdog

    Dont forget the maxima thats a pretty good car its better than the commondore in a lot of areas.Its just marketed badly thay should be doing lot better with that car here

  • John of Perth

    Nissan’s 370 Skyline which for reasons best known to the Nissan Australian paper shufflers is another great BMW beater which we don’t see – why?