Booming new car sales in Russia have seen the world’s manufacturers scrabbling for a slice of the action. But as these newcomers arrive, they are discovering that Renault has something of a head start… the French firm has been building and selling cars in Russia for nearly 100 years: it opened its first factory in the country in 1916.

As part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, Renault and Nissan work with communities around the world to improve the lives of disadvantaged people. This two-minute video looks at the Alliance’s CSR activities in Brazil, a key market for the auto group.
 
The video was produced in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for its Responsible Business TV series. The video -- which includes footage of the Alliance’s work with underprivileged children in Brazil -- aired on CNBC in late August.

As car manufacturers with widening global footprints, Renault and Nissan face increasing transportation costs. To reduce these costs, the Alliance logistics and customs  teams are investigating all possible improvements.
Today the companies generate more than 200 million euros in logistics synergies a year by sharing warehouses, containers, vessels and more.

Renault is the diesel specialist for Alliance and produces some of the car industry’s top-performing diesel engines at its plant in Cleon, France. Nissan uses these engines to accelerate sales throughout Europe, where it has already become the number one Asian brand in many key markets.

Helped by this strong demand from Nissan, up to 300 million euros is being invested in the Cleon plant, in part to boost production capacity of one of Renault’s core engines – the Energy DCI 130. Capacity will be increased to 200,000 units a year in 2013, up from 150,000 units today.

With €20 billion in annual purchasing, Raw Materials are one of the biggest costs for the Alliance. To limit the impact of the rise of Raw Materials prices, an Alliance Cross Company Team was created in 2011.
Their objective: find innovative ways to reduce the exposure of both companies to these fluctuations…

Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn tackled tough questions from the best and brightest students at Japan’s Keio Business School on Tuesday, sharing his experiences leading two global automakers.

The students asked the CEO for tips on managing global organizations, promoting diversity and, perhaps most importantly, what it takes to land their desired job after graduation.

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn returned to the automaker’s Iwaki factory Monday, a little more than one year after a devastating earthquake temporarily crippled production.

Ghosn, touring the plant he last visited in May 2011, described Iwaki’s recovery as miraculous.

“It has been remarkable. The plant has produced 300,000 engines this year, even though these events have happened,” Ghosn told the Global Media Center.

It is now a year since the tragic events of March 11, 2011, one of the darkest days in Japan’s recent history and a crisis that tested the spirit of the nation.

The magnitude-9 earthquake that struck the Tohoku region of northeast Japan, and the devastating tsunami that followed, left at least 20,000 people dead or missing, and among those casualties were five of our employees and 17 family members of staff.

Our Iwaki plant was some distance from the worst devastation and thankfully spared from loss of life, but still badly damaged.

• Despite financial uncertainty and natural disasters, global sales increased 10 percent and exceeded 8 million units for the first time.
• Strongest growth came from emerging markets and the United States.

PARIS(Feb. 1, 2012) — The Renault-Nissan Alliance sold a record 8,029,222 units in 2011, a 10.3% increase from 2010, fuelled by robust sales in emerging markets and the United States.

Sales rose for the third consecutive year. Renault sold 2,722,062 units worldwide, up 3.6% from 2010. Nissan sold 4,669,981 units, up 14.4%. AvtoVAZ Lada accounted for 637,179 units, a 10.9 % increase compared to the previous year.

Yokohama, Japan - April 26, 2011 - We at Nissan express our deepest sympathy to those individuals and families still suffering from the disaster.

Please see below for the latest update regarding our production status in Japan:

Production in April

- Production volume in April is expected to be slightly above 40% of the actual production volume in April last year.