An alliance between Renault and Nissan gets a reboot

Relationships do not always live up to the hopes of yesteryear. In 2018 Carlos Ghosn, then boss of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, predicted combined sales of 14m vehicles in 2022. In fact sales may not have hit half that number. Pandemic-era supply-chain snarl-ups are only partly to blame. Another reason was the failure of Mr Ghosn’s plan for a much closer bond between Nissan, the Japanese firm he had rescued from bankruptcy in 1999, and Renault (the smaller Mitsubishi has been less integral to the pact). Although the partners benefited from joint purchasing, a few shared factories and some common parts and designs, Nissan largely followed its own road: the Renault Zoe and Nissan Leaf, similar electric cars, shared few components.On January 30th, after months of wrangling, the companies at last reset the lopsided liaison resulting from Nissan’s salvage. This had involved the Japanese firm holding a 15% stake in Renault, with the French carmaker controlling 43% of Nissan. The uneven arrangement always infuriated the bigger and generally more profitable Japanese firm, which feared meddling by the French state, which owns 15% of Renault. Tensions were held in check only by the force of Mr Ghosn’s personality—until his detention in Japan for what he says were trumped-up charges designed to derail his plans for a closer tie-up.