Renault is going to produce the next-generation Nissan Micra at its Flins plant near Paris. The company's Le Mans plant, however, will meet the chassis needs.
Expected to go into production in 2016, this program will draw an investment of seven million euros (around 55 crore) and will increase the Le Mans plant' s workload by eight percent. Renault will built the entire chassis in France and will assemble the car there as well. The company is expected to manufacture 132,000 units annually.
In February this year, Carlos Ghosn, president of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, had emphasised the need to improve the performance of both partner companies. One of the ways this was to be achieved was by developing cross-manufacturing, with one partner making vehicles or powertrains for the other. Just months after the announcement, Alliance synergies are stepping up, and the Micra chassis programme for Le Mans marks a major step forward in Alliance cross-manufacturing.
Le Mans is the Renault group's primary chassis design and manufacturing centre. The chassis made there currently underpins some Renault-badged cars and some European-made Dacias and Nissans. The parts made at Le Mans are dispatched to Renault group's assembly plants not only in France and other European countries, but also to Turkey, Morocco and Brazil. It also exports 55 percent of its production output outside France and 25 percent outside Europe.