It is counting on Ampere, which it will separate from its traditional internal combustion engine business and list on the stock market for a valuation of as much as 10 billion euros, to present itself as a pure electric player and get back into the race.
“If Nissan puts money and resources into engineering – technologies and teams – that would be a pretty good sign, the alliance will at least partially continue, but for now it’s only conditional,” a second industry source said.
The operational projects to relaunch the partnership were barely sketched out on Monday.
The companies highlighted Latin America, India and Europe – where they already have factories and joint production – as areas where they were considering projects related to markets, vehicles and technologies.
“With Nissan recovering its voting rights at Renault, it means that the alliance is now strictly limited to the goodwill of the Japanese side,” the second source said.
Analysts seeking less complexity from Renault were disappointed in November when de Meo said he would split the French carmaker into five autonomous businesses.
And Renault has announced plans to strengthen ties with China’s Geely Automobile Holdings, which will take a big stake in Renault’s combustion engine unit, Qualcomm and Google.
Open relationship
Nissan, which sources have said is wary of sharing its technology with too many outsiders, might find the new set-up too much of an open relationship.
After rising more than 20 percent since the start of the year, Renault’s shares were down more than 3 percent in Monday afternoon trading.
Ion-Marc Valahu at Clairinvest, also a Renault shareholder, said that the shares fell because Renault “did not give an update on when they will sell their stake (in Nissan) and how the different divisions within Renault will be implemented.”