Blog of RENAULT NISSAN Alliance

Cost has always been one of the major stumbling blocks to bringing electric vehicles to market. The cars are expensive to develop and the battery packs are a complex new technology (at this scale and performance) and currently more expensive to build than traditional internal combustion engines. As a consequence, electric vehicles have either been high-priced niche products or limited production concept vehicles. Our objective has always been for the price of our zero-emission vehicles to be at the same purchase price as a comparable gasoline or diesel engined vehicle.

Great news! The Alliance has two cars, the Nissan Leaf and Dacia Duster, on the shortlist for the 2011 European Car of the Year award.

The shortlist of seven cars has been narrowed down from an initial field of 41 cars and the winner will be announced on November 29.

Nissan's performance in the first half of fiscal year 2010 has produced better-than-expected results. We have kept our focus on executing our recovery plan, and we have been quick to take advantage of opportunities for profitable growth. Due to these actions and to higher sales in all regions, Nissan's performance is solidly on track.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance is considered as a one of the rare examples of a successful relationship between two global automotive companies.

Here in Seoul Headquarters, at our Technical Centre in Giheung  and at our factory in Busan we are celebrating 10 years of Renault’s relaunch of Samsung Motors under Renault Samsung Motors,  and if one day there is such a thing as an Alliance company, then RSM epitomizes it!

Good morning, everyone.

Today is a very special day… for all of us at Nissan… for everyone who has eagerly awaited zero-emission mobility… and for society’s hope for a cleaner future.
The launch of Nissan LEAF, the world’s first mass-market, affordable zero-emission vehicle, is a true transportation breakthrough.

How do we get more women into the car industry? That was one of the main topics we discussed at last week’s Women’s Forum where a delegation of more than 30 people from Renault-Nissan took part.

We have just held our fourth Alliance Week – a chance for Nissan and Renault engineers to get together and learn about what the others are doing and the progress that is being made on a number of projects.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance showcased its zero emissions future in dramatic fashion at this year’s Mondial de l’Automobile in Paris.

Andy Palmer, Nissan SVP for Global Planning and Program Management, contrasted this year’s show with that in 2008 and explained how things had changed.

The ambitions of Renault-Nissan to be the world leader in zero emissions have received timely boosts – and this time well away from the Salon d’Auto in Paris.

Leading hire car company Avis has just announced that it has pre-ordered 500 Renault EVs while LeasePLan has signed an agreement with Nissan to offer the LEAF on its fleet in Europe from next year.