Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi tops VW for global sales

The Renault-Nissan alliance overtook the Volkswagen Group as the world's largest car-maker last year following the inclusion of Mitsubishi Motors to its stable in 2016.

Nissan notched up record global sales of 5.82 million light vehicles in 2017, when Renault sold 3.76 million and Mitsubishi's tally was 1.03 million, bringing the total to about 10.61 million.

That was enough to beat the VW Group's record tally of about 10.53 million light vehicles, including the Audi, Skoda, Seat and Porsche brands.

Meantime, Toyota, which placed second to Volkswagen in 2016, notched up 10.2 million light vehicle sales last year.

Renault-Nissan plans to increase its sales - and therefore its economy of scale, efficiency and profitability - to more than 14 million units and generate revenue of $US240 billion by 2022.

In terms of profitability, according to Automotive News, Renault-Nissan lagged behind General Motors, which had topped the global auto sales charts until the 2008 GFC.

Having sold GM Opel/Vauxhall to the PSA Group last year, GM posted a profit margin of 6.8 per cent in January-September - more than Nissan (five per cent), Mitsubishi (4.3 per cent April-October) and Renault (4.8 per cent January-June).

In all, sales of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi vehicles increased by 6.5 per cent to 10,608,366 in 2017, representing about 11 per cent of the world's car, SUV and light commercial vehicle market.

At the same time, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi sold 91,000 electric vehicles in 2017 (up more than 11 per cent from 2016), and with a total of 540,623 EV sales across the group since 2010, it remains the global EV leader.

This is thanks mostly to the Nissan LEAF, which has racked up more than 300,000 sales since December 2010, while the Renault ZOE was the best-selling EV in Europe, where sales increased by 44 per cent.

"With more than 10.6 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles sold in 2017, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi has become the number-one automotive group worldwide," said Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive officer of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.

"This evolution reflects the breadth and depth of our model range, our global market presence and the customer appeal of our vehicle technologies."

In 2017 - the first full year of Mitsubishi's membership in the Renault-Nissan Alliance - the three companies sold vehicles in nearly 200 countries under 10 brands -- Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors, Dacia, Renault Samsung Motors, Alpine, Lada, Infiniti, Venucia and Datsun.

Groupe Renault's sales were up 8.5 per cent to 3,761,634, making it a record year for France's top car-maker and Europe's number two brand.

Nissan Motor Co Ltd sold 5,816,278 vehicles worldwide -- up 4.6 per cent following a 12.2 per cent sales lift in China.

Meantime, while Infiniti sold 246,492 vehicles in 2017 (up seven per cent from 2016), when Mitsubishi Motors Corporation sold 1,030,454 vehicles — up 10 per cent.

Following a 59 per cent sales surge in China, the world's biggest car market also became Mitsubishi's, thanks to strong demand for the locally produced Outlander.

Overall, China was the Alliance's biggest market in 2017, followed by the USA, France, Japan, Russia. France remained Renault's biggest market, followed by Russia, Germany, Italy and Spain, while Nissan's top five markets, in order, were the US, China, Japan, Mexico and the UK.

Mitsubishi's top five markets, meantime, were China (129,160 sales), USA (103,685), Japan (91,630), Australia (80,674) and Indonesia (79,885).