April 25, 2000
with the support of Nissan
Committed to international profitable growth, the Renault-Nissan Alliance is initiating a new area of cooperation aiming at strengthening Renault's presence in Japan. Renault has the ambition, with the help of Nissan, to increase its sales in Japan up to 15,000 vehicles in 2004 and 30,000 units in the longer term, which would make it one of the leading importers in the country by 2010. To that end, Renault is creating Renault Japon, a wholly-owned subsidiary, which will rely on strong Nissan support on the one hand, and its current importer France Motors on the other hand for a period of three years, to develop its sales in Japan. In addition, the marketing of Renault vehicles will enable the Nissan distribution network to extend its product offering and thus attract new customers. Leveraging Nissan's infrastructure will allow Renault to speed up its growth in Japan while minimizing the related costs and investments. Renault will invest new financial resources in the project, amounting to FRF 260 million ( 4.0 billion yen) over a three-year period.
Renault will set up as of May 1 a wholly-owned subsidiary, Renault Japon, which will be the exclusive importer of Renault vehicles in Japan. The company will be headed by Roberto Pallotta, formerly Sales and Marketing Director of Renault Italy. From May 10, Nissan will market Renault vehicles, while France Motors, Renault's current importer and distributor which has successfully managed to increase Renault sales in Japan for the last years, will continue its distribution activity during a transition period of three years. Renault has been present commercially on the Japanese market since 1986, and signed an exclusive import and distribution contract with France Motors in May 1994. Renault sales in 1999 were over 3,000 vehicles in Japan.
Nissan will provide support for Renault's full-fledged entry into the Japanese market. In 2000, there will be some 50 Nissan outlets marketing Renault vehicles. This dealer network will gradually be developed to reach more than 150 outlets in the longer term. In addition to building the sales network, in its role as a distributor, Nissan will provide sales outlet management and follow-up, conduct sales staff training, promote sales and run local advertising campaigns. Nissan will also furnish a system for handling customer orders for vehicles and service parts, as well as being responsible for logistics operations to sales outlets. Moreover, Nissan's existing back office will be used by Renault Japon to support certain importer functions, such as predelivery inspection (PDI) work.
In marketing Renault vehicles, the brand identities of both Nissan and Renault products will remain completely separate. This policy will be observed at all sales outlets, regardless of whether they are dedicated outlets or outlets that sell both companies' vehicles.
Nissan dealers will be able to cultivate new customers, different from traditional Nissan buyers, by selling a completely new product lineup.
This cooperation is the first benefit of the Renault-Nissan Alliance directly passed on to the customers.