Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, one of the world’s leading automotive alliances, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with DiDi Chuxing, a leading Chinese mobile transportation platform, to explore future business cooperation on a new electric vehicle car-sharing program in the People’s Republic of China.
The memorandum of understanding signed with DiDi underlines a commitment to new mobility services at the Alliance, including the launch of robo-vehicle ride-hailing services, as part of the Alliance 2022 strategic mid-term plan launched last year by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.
Ogi Redzic, senior vice president of Connected Vehicles and Mobility Services for Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, said, “The potential business and technology opportunities that we will explore with DiDi are quite promising. This cooperation fits with the Alliance expansion in vehicle electrification, autonomy, connectivity and new mobility services.”
Chen Ting, general manager for the Express Mobility Group of DiDi Chuxing, said, “Strategic partnerships with the world’s leading industry players like Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi will enable us to pool our strengths and resources to meet diversified mobility demands and create an open, sharing-based transportation ecosystem, as we innovate vehicles for a future of ridesharing, AI technology and new energy.”
As one of the world’s largest automotive groups in unit sales, the Alliance is accelerating initiatives in a range of new automotive technologies. By the end of its strategic plan, the Alliance plans to launch 12 pure electric models worldwide, utilizing common EV platforms and components, while also bringing to market 40 vehicles worldwide with autonomous drive technology and developing robo-vehicle ride-hailing services.
Under the Alliance 2022 strategic plan, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi is forecasting that the combined revenues of its member companies will reach $240 billion and that annual unit sales will exceed 14 million by the end of 2022, compared with 10.6 million units sold by its member companies in 2017.
