Next Navara and Triton to be twinned

The next generation of Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi Triton one-tonne utes will almost certainly share a common platform, as part of Nissan's planned takeover of the triple-diamond brand announced yesterday.

So said Nissan chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn in an international media phone conference this evening, following yesterday's confirmation that Nissan Motor Co intends to take a controlling 34 per cent share of the ailing Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

The two companies have already confirmed the $3 billion takeover bid will create a “far-reaching strategic alliance” including common vehicle platforms, purchasing, technology-sharing, joint manufacturing and the development of growth markets.

Tonight Ghosn ruled out the elimination of the Mitsubishi brand and a merger between Mitsubishi and Nissan, which has had a cross-ownership alliance with Renault since 1999, and confirmed both car-makers would continue as separate brands with separate manufacturing plants.

However, he made it clear the use of common platforms would extend across the entire Nissan and Mitsubishi product portfolios and indicated that eventually all models would share key mechanical components.

Ghosn said a new vehicle platform costs roughly $US500 million to develop and that, given the manufacturers could share up to nine common platforms, there was a potential total cost saving of $US4.5 billion in development costs alone.

Ghosn said the next-generation Navara and Triton -- which are up to a decade away, given both models were renewed last year – would likely share a common platform, but undergo different development programs to give them differing flavours.

"It's very possible we're going to use the same platform, but we’re going to develop the cars differently because the customers of Mitsubishi are the not the same as the customers of Nissan,” he said.

"Instead of having two different platforms we can have on the same platform two different products, which will allow the investments to be lower and also to have lower purchasing costs of parts that are not visible to the customer.

"So common platform, different developments."

Ghosn didn't specifically rule out 'badge-engineered' models, but said joint-platform Nissan and Mitsubishi vehicles would share everything except design, chassis tuning and equipment levels.

"Don't expect the products to like alike, because they're going to be different designs and specifications, but the core technical choices will be common.

"Customers don't care about the platform or the technology. What they care about is the design, the interior, the tuning of the car, the functionality of the car and all of this is something which is specific to each brand."

The arrangement – similar to the one that sees Mazda's BT-50 share its architecture with the Ford Ranger, just as the Isuzu D-MAX is based on the same platform as Holden Colorado but built in a separate factory -- will make the next Triton the third pick-up to be based on the Navara.

Nissan's latest NP300 Navara will form the basis of Renault's all-new Alaskan ute, as well the first one-tonner from Mercedes-Benz. Similarly, Mazda's next BT-50 could share its underpinnings with Toyota's new HiLux, which is also likely to form the basis of inaugural utes from Peugeot and Citroen.

Ghosn stopped short of confirming other specific examples of platform-sharing, but it's possible Nissan's latest Pulsar – sold only in Europe – could form the basis of a belated new Lancer for Mitsubishi, although there's still no guarantee of either vehicle being sold in Australia.

However, he cited electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles and vehicle connectivity as three areas in which both companies would reduce significant costs by pooling development.

"We will be working together on the next generation of electric cars," he said.

Ghosn said shared components and improved economies of scale would bring significant cost savings for both Nissan, which produced 5.4 million vehicles last year, and Mitsubishi, which made around a million vehicles in FY2015.

"Mitsubishi is much smaller than Nissan, but because it's much smaller the benefits are much bigger," he said. "When you are buying [components] together, the benefits for Mitsubishi relatively are much more important.

"When you are sharing a platform and you are stopping the development of a platform at Mitsubishi, the savings for Mitsubishi are much more important because of the size of Mitsubishi.

"Reduced purchasing costs [will bring] savings for Nissan because some of the platforms will be Mitsubishi platforms."

Ghosn confirmed both companies would produce vehicles for each other, with some Mitsubishi models to be built in Nissan plants and vice-versa.

"We can make some Nissan products in Nissan plants or, if it makes sense, some Mitsubishi products in Nissan plants," he said.

"Cross manufacturing can help one or the other company move faster in certain segments. There's no worries about excess capacity or shutting down plants. The companies are going to continue to be separate; each one's going to have its own plants."

The outspoken Renault-Nissan chief said that the struggling Mitsubishi – whose share price has almost halved in the three weeks since it admitted to cheating Japanese fuel consumption tests – will benefit significantly from an instant cash injection, development and manufacturing cost reductions and additional models.

He said Nissan, meantime, stood to benefit from Mitsubishi's strong presence in southeast Asia, as well as its established know-how in plug-in hybrid technology, which would save Nissan the trouble.

Ghosn said the fallout from Mitsubishi's admission that it manipulated fuel consumption tests on a number of Japanese models dating back 25 years to 1991, potentially making it liable to billions of dollars worth of compensation and fines, would take time to settle.

"This is up to the management of Mitsubishi. Obviously they are having some problems. They are very conscious of it.

"I have no doubt as to the sincerity of their concern and the fact that they will do whatever needs to be done to re-establish the trust and the name of Mitsubishi.

"It may take some time. We're going to support with our knowledge and knowhow, but we're going to have to be patient."

Ghosn confirmed that, together with Renault, the Nissan-Mitsubishi tie-up would make a total of about 10 million vehicles in the current financial year, based on each car-maker's current forecasts.

He said that would put the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance among the world's top three car-makers by volume – positions currently held by Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors.

"If I look at the forecasts of the companies for 2016 ... We should be around 10 million cars already in 2016 ... 10 million cars is somewhere around the top three car-makers, that's what it means.

"[But] The volume is not an objective, the volume is a consequence of a job well done."