The Renault-Nissan Alliance announced today the decision to invest jointly Eur250 million in order to produce the new compact van - code-named X83 - in Nissan's Barcelona factory. Approximately 64,000 units per year will be produced in Barcelona, in addition to annual output of 86,000 units from GM Europe's Luton IBC plant (UK). This new compact van, which is already in production at Luton, will be first marketed as a Renault Trafic and Opel Vivaro from summer 2001. It will go on the market in Europe with a Nissan badge from second half of 2002, in order to enhance Nissan's current LCV line-up. Jointly developed by Renault and General Motors Europe, the X83 is characterized by a strong focus on professional needs and a powerful design.
The decision to manufacture the X83 in Nissan's Barcelona plant, in addition to GM Europe's Luton facility in the UK will dramatically increase total output. It will allow Renault, General Motors Europe and Nissan to meet the growing demand for compact LCVs in Europe. In all, combined annual production volumes of the X83 at Luton and Barcelona should reach 150,000 units a year.
Compact vans represent the bulk of the market with 50% of the total European van segment. Equipped with new common-rail engines, a 6-speed manual gearbox, the highest level of safety and the lowest running costs in its class, the X83 is aimed to become the new benchmark in the compact van segment.
This is the first announcement of a cross-badged light commercial vehicle within the Renault-Nissan Alliance in Europe. All the X83 versions, van, combi, bus and chassis-cab will be sold by Nissan in Europe under its own brand name. The Nissan X83, based on the original modern design, will be differentiated by a specific front grill, specific front indicators and specific seats.
Renault and General Motors Europe will begin selling the X83 in Europe (under the Renault Trafic and Opel / Vauxhall Vivaro names) in their own separate networks from the summer of 2001, whereas Nissan will start to sell the "X83" under its own badge and in its own network in the second half of 2002.
Encouraged by the strong forecasts for this product in Europe, Renault and GM-Europe have decided to increase the production volume of the jointly developed X83, in order to respond to the growing demand for the compact LCV. Therefore different options were evaluated.
The Nissan Barcelona plant was chosen due to its ability to develop new processes and equipment for this production in a short timeframe and in the most profitable way for each of the partners.
X83 production in Barcelona will be the first joint production by the Renault-Nissan Alliance in Europe, after Renault Scénic built in the Nissan plant in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Investment in the Nissan Barcelona plant will start in early March this year, in order to cover the development, supplier tooling and other industrial equipment required to manufacture this new product. The modification in the plant layout with a new and dedicated body line and assembly line, will allow plant capacity to be utilized more efficiently up to 180 000 units per year.
The parts sourcing for this new vehicle will be studied to allow as much local sourcing as possible.
The selection of suppliers will be driven by criteria of profitability, logistics and just-in-time production capability.
About 1000 new jobs will be created from 2002 and the recruitment and training process will start then.
The first X83s produced in Barcelona will be on the market in the spring of 2003. The Barcelona plant will produce all the left-hand-drive versions - two wheel-bases and two payload ratings (1,000kg and 1,200kg) - as well as the new "high-roof" version.
Within the framework of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, the cross-badging policy in Europe will be limited to the LCV range, in order to maintain the two brands clearly separated. For the future, Renault and Nissan are currently studying together other clearly differentiated LCV models based on common platforms.