Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. should "remedy" the decades-long unequal alliance in which the French automaker controls the larger Japanese company through a controlling stake, former Nissan President Hiroto Saikawa has said, emphasizing that the two companies should build a more equal relationship by reducing Renault's stake in Nissan.
In an interview with Kyodo News in mid-October, his first with a major media outlet since stepping down in September 2019, the former chief executive said, "It's ideal to have a partnership where they can decide flexibly whether to share core technologies such as autonomous driving and electrification."
The 68-year-old said Nissan "should make better use of the alliance for the future" by continuing cooperation in a flexible manner, although the two companies "should not share automobile designs as their product portfolios and priorities differ."
Saikawa shared his views in the interview as the two firms enter the final stage of reviewing their partnership, which has lasted more than 20 years. Nissan currently has a 15 percent stake in the French company but no voting rights under French regulations.
The two are considering a plan for Renault to cut its stake in Nissan from 43 percent to 15 percent and balance the voting rights.
The two automakers are expected to announce changes to the existing alliance as early as November.
Saikawa said the current structure "produces unnecessary friction" as Nissan is controlled by smaller Renault, and that when he was chief executive, he had sought to review the capital relationship between the two companies.
"Normalizing the twisted relationship was my last job before resigning," he said. That role has since been picked up by his successor, Makoto Uchida, who was appointed Nissan president in December 2019.
Nissan's management went into turmoil after its chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested in 2018 over underreporting his compensation. He subsequently jumped bail and fled to Lebanon.
Ghosn had tried to merge Nissan with Renault, a move vehemently opposed by some executives at the Japanese company, according to Saikawa.
Saikawa denied Ghosn's allegation that then-Nissan executives including Saikawa staged a coup to oust him, saying Ghosn had "clearly" committed fraud.
Renault became the top shareholder of Nissan in 1999 when the Japanese firm was on the verge of bankruptcy, and Ghosn was sent to lead the overhaul.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. joined the alliance after Nissan acquired a 34 percent stake in it in 2016.
