This had never been done, and one wonders why. Jean-Dominique Senard, the new president of Renault, invited this Thursday evening to dinner staffs and directors of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi in full force. The feasts must take place on the Champs-Elysées, at Atelier Renault. A friendly and inexpensive way to try to pick up the pieces after months of open crisis between the French and Japanese parties, result of the earthquake Carlos Ghosn.
Exit RNBV
Serious things will start on Friday, with the first meeting of the Renault-Nissan “new-look” alliance. Exit the Dutch Renault Nissan BV structure developed by Carlos Ghosn. This will be devitalized but will still subsist for joint purchases of parts and components. ” This is a good thing. There is a lot of suspicion around this entity. RNBV did not do what it had to do [complete the integration of Renault and Nissan, Ed], and it did things that it should not have, “said a Japanese actor. The ongoing internal investigation is actually confirming the questions of Nissan – whether donations to Lebanese universities, expensive consulting fees or expensive practices.
Instead, Jean-Dominique Senard wanted to put in place a more flexible device, without legal consistency – the Council of the Alliance . The new strong man of Losange will be the president, and meet monthly at Paris or Tokyo the three CEOs of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi. By the way, Mitsubishi takes a real place in the trio. The quartet of leaders will have to oversee the operations and make decisions on joint projects from the files assembled by the leaders “Converged functions” established at the time of RNBV (Purchasing, logistics, HR, platforms, manufacturing, engines, engineering, after-sales, quality and “business development”), without being the subject of countless trips in all three groups. On Friday, it will be about engines, batteries, driver assistance systems, a technological partnership and a balance of functions converged, precisely. “It’s back to work, with a smile if possible,” says a Renault executive.
More sword of Damocles
Smile or not, it will be necessary to reach a decision by consensus, since Jean-Dominique Senard, unlike Carlos Ghosn, will not have a casting vote in this informal council. No more Damocles sword in case of disagreement, then. Some questions could thus be delicate to decide and remain pending. “It does not change much, says a French leader. In twenty years, the casting vote has never been used on the board of RNBV “. Which is confirmed at Nissan.
In this context, stakeholders will quickly know if confidence can be sufficiently restored to revolve the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance – while waiting to address head-on, or not, potential capital issues. Knowing that a dislocation of the hitch recalls the same leader, “would take years and cost billions and billions”.