Nissan and Mercedes to Work More Closely Together

Jan 11 2012

One thing is becoming increasingly clear: when you sign up for car finance on your dream car the badge does not say it all any longer – large parts of the car might have been built by a completely different manufacturer.

The Nissan-Renault Alliance, for example, will strengthen its cooperation with German car manufacturer Daimler (Mercedes).  The company has just agreed to build Mercedes Benz 4-cylinder petrol engines at its plant in Decherd, Tennessee.

The engines built here will be used for both Mercedes Benz and Infiniti models.  Production is to commence early in 2014.  The capacity of the plant is 250,000 units per year.

The agreement means that Mercedes Benz engines will, for the first time, be built in the North American free trade region.  The plant in Tennessee has close links to the Tuscaloosa plant in Alabama, where the C-class Mercedes is manufactured at present.

This is not the first time the two companies will work closely together: they already formed a strategic alliance back in April 2010.  So far the cooperation agreement involved three pillars: a joint architecture for the Smart/Twingo with the two-seater Smart being built at the Daimler plant in Hambach, France and the four-seater Smart in Novo Mesto, Slovenia; a brand new Mercedes entry level urban van and the sharing of power-trains.

In addition the two car manufacturers have already signed a cooperation agreement for electric vehicles in terms of which Daimler will provide batteries from its plant in Kamenz, Germany.  These batteries will be used in the Twingo Ze and the Smart.

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