By DPA,
Tokyo : Japan’s Nissan Motor Co and French carmaker Renault SA are considering establishing a joint holding company, a media report said Thursday.
The proposed company would put Nissan and Renault under a single umbrella, Nissan President Carlos Ghosn told the Nikkei business daily.
The process could take place in two or three years, Ghosn, who is also chairman of Renault, told the daily.
Ghosn said shareholders’ interests must be taken into consideration, suggesting that Nissan and Renault will remain listed. The French government, which owns a 15-per-cent stake in Renault, will also have a say, he told the daily.
If realized, the plan would mark the first time that major carmakers in countries across the globe came together under a single holding company, the Nikkei said.
The plan calls for Russia’s leading automaker AvtoVaz, which is 25-percent-owned by Renault, as well as Romania’s Dacia and South Korea’s Renault Samsung Motors – both subsidiaries of the French carmaker – to move under the proposed umbrella, the daily said.
In 2010, Nissan sold a record 4.08 million vehicles globally, up 21.5 percent from the previous year, as sales in China exceeded one million units for the first time.
Other emerging markets such as Russia, India and Brazil are also key for the Japanese carmaker.
Renault owns a 44.3-per-cent stake in its Japanese partner while Nissan holds 15 percent of the French carmaker’s shares, the daily said.