It seems that the three-headed alliance of Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi is keen to put its recent difficulties in the rearview mirror.
Overnight, the triple made a grand announcement detailing a significant investment to be made over the next five years, and the plan to reveal a staggering 35 new electric vehicles across the three brands by 2030.
Between now and 2027, the trio is set to spend €23 billion on the development of five new electrified platforms, which will be used across each brand’s products. They also plan to ramp up the use of shared powertrains from the current 60 per cent to 80 per cent.
Those yearning for the days of bespoke motoring, who loathe the idea of shared platforms, will be a little pleased to learn that these new platforms will only account for 90 per cent of the 35 electric vehicles in the pipeline. There’s still a chance for some brand-specific models to seep into showrooms.
Breaking things down a touch, Nissan has been charged (see what I did there) with the duty of developing solid-state batteries for the three brands to share.
Renault, meanwhile, will work on developing a “common centralized electrical and electronic architecture”, with the brands boasting that they will soon be “the first mass-market OEM to introduce the Google ecosystem in its cars”.
The five platforms have been Christened the CMF-AEV, the Kei-EV, the LCV-EV, the CMF-BEV, and the CMF-EV. The CMF-AEV and Kei-EV platforms will be used for micro electric vehicles, while the LCV-EV platform will be the go-to for commercial vehicles.
The bulk of the sedans, hatchbacks, and SUVs in the pipeline for Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Renault will be built on the CMF-BEV and CMF-EV platforms. The latter already has a few projects on its roster, in the form of the Nissan Ariya and Renault Megane E-Tech.
The one-hour press event included confirmation of a series of new models. An all-new Mitsubishi ASX is finally on the way to replace the current antiquated model. The next-generation Nissan Micra is set to be a pure EV, with no ICE variant.
Renault, meanwhile, is expected to kick off production of its retro-flavoured Renault 5 EV towards the end of this year. It’s also developing a seven-seater EV SUV at the minute, and another SUV called the 4ever.
Nissan had already recently pledged to release 15 new EVs by the end of the decade, simultaneously releasing a quartet of concepts during the November 2021 announcement. These included a compact crossover that many have tipped to represent the next-gen Nissan Leaf.
