On the sidelines of the ongoing 2012 Paris Auto Show, partners Daimler, owner of the Mercedes-Benz and Smart brands, and the Renault-Nissan Alliance, confirmed plans to collaborate on two more powertrain projects, including a petrol engine and an automatic transmission.
The first project is a jointly developed 4-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine family. The direct-injection petrol unit is said to deliver significant improvement in fuel economy as well as low emissions.
The two automakers will jointly manufacture the new engines that will debut in Daimler, Renault and Nissan vehicles in 2016.
The second project concerns a new automatic transmission featuring “start and stop” and “park and shift by wire” technologies that is currently being developed by Mercedes-Benz.
According to the agreement, the German carmaker grants Nissan a license to manufacture the transmissions for Nissan and Infiniti vehicles starting in 2016. Nissan subsidiary Jatco will build these newly licensed gearboxes in Mexico.
“These new components demonstrate how broadly and rapidly our collaboration is proliferating – while all the time remaining rooted in specific projects that give tangible benefits to our customers,” said Renault-Nissan Alliance CEO Carlos Ghosn. “The relationship is expanding organically and logically.”
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche added: “The collaboration achieved a milestone this year, with the first vehicles and engines from the partnership now on the roads. Furthermore, all our engineers are keeping an open mind, looking with fresh eyes at all potential new areas of collaboration.”
The two CEOs also confirmed that all of the original “pillar projects” announced in 2010 “have been accomplished or are on track”.
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