Finally there is the capitalist alliance

While Europe is struggling to operate its union to fly to the rescue of the Greece, the automotive industry, rediscovered the charms of the alliance, this marriage in lean, respectful of freedoms and constraints of each version. But most fragile also. Daimler signed with Renault, Volks-wagen with Suzuki, Fiat with Chrysler and SAP with... (the research is still ongoing). In these difficult times, the alliance is a must.

Renault, initiator of the movement with Nissan in 1999, it is more than that, a form of sacred mission, to invent a new route between the wild merger to the Anglo-Saxon and banal ad hoc cooperation. As if the French constructor had finally found the Holy Grail (a sort of Ark of the Covenant) which would combine globalisation and diversity.

At the time, the crisis that hit the area last year, the worst in its history, convinced the firm to the diamond was to give a blow of accelerator to its slow rapprochement with Nissan. As recalled week last Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault, automotive industry enters a new era marked by three constraints: to design new vehicles emitting more (or little) of carbon, that offer lines increasingly wider for audiences becoming more segmented and, finally, that of being present everywhere in the world and especially in new areas of growth. "Cannot be ignored any of these three aspects", assured the travelling pattern. However, to do all this at the same time, need money, volumes and a global presence.

Therefore, four roads available to vehicle manufacturers. Firstly that of the more virtuous, organic growth but the longest. Call the Toyota way, reluctant to any acquisition. Then the most fast and dangerous, the purchase of a competitor to conquer a new market. It would be Volkswagen runway and its dozen brands. Contrast, winding narrow road of ad hoc cooperation, around a model, a component or a plant. It is used by SAP and his multiple collaborations (Fiat, Toyota, BMW, Renault). Finally, there is the capitalist alliance. Tested by many builders, including General Motors, it experienced only one true success, the Renault-Nissan.

A considerable, but success owes much to the relief of Nissan and very little at the meeting of the skills of the two groups. As very good Stéphane Lauer recounts in his book "Renault, a French Revolution" (ed. JC Lattès), this success is the result of the meeting between the talented visionary and diplomat of Louis Schweitzer, who had the idea and acted at the right time, and the operational engineering of Carlos Ghosn. Within two years he managed the feat of return business in loss for seven years. With a double obsession: instilling a culture of performance, financial and commercial, Japanese while preserving its strong identity.

The failure of the Renault-Volvo merger witness, Louis Schweitzer immediately understood that the preservation of culture and the autonomy of the Japanese was a key to success. Hence his decision to send that very few Parisian leaders around Carlos Ghosn. This is the advantage of the alliance. On devine as the first risk limit synergies: common procurement (major weakness of Nissan), a few models traded on secondary markets (of the Clio named Nissan to the Mexico) and a few components shared.

Indeed, as long as he remained at Nissan, from 1999 to 2005, Carlos Ghosn took care to protect the Japanese any hegemonic look French business, to not ruin the motivation of Japanese troops. The functioning of the groups of common work and the structure of decision was particularly deepened by the simultaneous presence at each level of two teams (and two counts), one for each company.

The situation improved in three steps. First, aware of the disappointment of the executives of Renault, in difficulty in 2002, who wanted to accelerate synergies, a joint company was created to identify and monitor cooperation projects. A unique purchasing power has also put in place for the components. The second step was taken with the return of Carlos Ghosn in Paris. But persisted this gap between a Japanese company flourishing and little interest to cooperate and a French who wanted to collect the fruits of its investment other than participation in the benefits of Nissan. Even if it was enough only to largely make some 6 billion euros invested in the first place.

The 2009 crisis, plunging the two companies at the same time into financial difficulties, has acted as a trigger. For less than a year, a team of 100 people was dedicated to the only alliance with fifteen theme directions of vehicle zero emission to finance through the search engines, computers or batteries. A single Director, accepted by the two companies, manages correspondents in the two companies. And, miracle, for the first time a quantified estimate of synergies was communicated: 1.5 billion euros for the single years 2009.

The breakdown of this figure gives a good overview of the potential savings. If the most rapid and dramatic post purchases, it is not the most important: only 10 of the total. About 40 of synergies return to engineering. By 2014, the number of common parts will increase from 8 (which is not huge after eleven years of life for couple) to 28 and, above all, 80 of the models on this date will be on common platforms. In terms of engines, 70 will be common, Renault specializing in diesel and Nissan instead in gasoline. In addition, the two first plants "Alliance" for the two constructors came out of land in the Morocco and India. With these new commitments, the Group announced 1 billion euros of additional synergies for 2010. As Carlos Ghosn says: "the crisis has taught us to be frugal, we are going to remain that after.

Seen, after eleven years of common life, the French, and Japanese are still share bed, but they are remarkably close. In Renault, it was explained that this time is required to accept at all, i.e. to the Japanese, reluctant to spontaneous outbursts, life in two. The alliance therefore takes time, that where a merger to loop in a year or two. It also requires a strong geographical complementarity, to limit conflicts of interest. This was the case with Renault, present in Europe and in Latin America, and Nissan, the Japan, in China and the United States. Finally, it requires mutual trust of the leaders and a vision of the future. As for example the electric car, which can benefit in full the competence of Nissan in the batteries and the commitment of the European countries in this area.

This community of thought is obviously a key point. Because the fragility of this Alchemy is based on the Assembly of men. Statufié in the archipelago, the citizen of the world Ghosn dream to extend this philosophy of the alliance partners, starting with Daimler, which has a small ticket in the case. To see. But the President and CEO of Renault knows that if the Japanese have always relied on foreigners (Chinese, Portuguese, Americans...) to evolve, they had constantly then to discharge into the sea.