Daimler to cut ties with Renault-Nissan?

Unraveling the partnership will be easier said than done.

Incoming Daimler CEO Ola Källenius plans to end the automaker's collaboration with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, according to a recent report. He also wants Mercedes-Benz to save $6 billion by 2021, and Daimler's truck division to save an additional $2 billion during the same period of time.

German magazine Manager Magazin learned from sources it didn't name that Källenius will not renew the projects Renault-Nissan and Daimler worked on jointly. The list of common cars, platforms, engines, and factories has grown since the collaboration began in 2010. The third-generation Renault Twingo and the third-generation Smart Fortwo ride on the same basic platform. Mercedes-Benz gave Infiniti the GLA's platform for the Q30, and in return it received the Nissan Navara's bones to build the X-Class truck on. The Citan van (pictured) is little more than a Renault Kangoo with a Mercedes three-pointed star emblem on its nose.

Several Renault engines equip Mercedes models in Europe, including the 1.5- and 1.6-liter dCi turbodiesels. Finally, Daimler and the Renault-Nissan Alliance operate a joint factory in Aguascalientes, Mexico. In other words: unraveling the partnership will be easier said than done. Manager Magazin explained the joint projects haven't been going well since former executive Carlos Ghosn was ejected from his leadership positions at Nissan, Renault, and Mitsubishi in November 2018.

We already know the next ForTwo will not have Renault DNA; Daimler sold half of its Smart brand to China's Geely, and asked it to engineer and build the fourth-generation model. What the future holds for the other projects hasn't been revealed yet, and we don't know whether the firms will sell the 3.1-percent stake they hold in each other before going their separate ways.