Renault-Nissan Expands Electric Push in China With Dongfeng

Renault-Nissan Alliance and Dongfeng have unveiled a new joint venture to co-develop and sell electric vehicles (EV) in China.

The new joint venture, eGT New Energy Automotive (eGT), will focus on the core competencies of each partner and will harness Renault-Nissan Alliance's electric vehicle experience, as well as the resources of Dongfeng in the new energy industry, to meet the expectations of the Chinese market.

EGT will design a new EV with interconnectivity. It will be jointly developed by the Alliance and Dongfeng on an A-segment SUV platform of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

"The establishment of the new joint venture with Dongfeng confirms our common commitment to develop competitive electric vehicles for the Chinese market," said Renault-Nissan Alliance chairman and CEO, Carlos Ghosn.

"We are confident to meet the expectations of the Chinese customers and to strengthen our global electric vehicle leadership position."

For his part, Dongfeng chairman, Zhu Yanfeng, added: "This project is the result of a joint effort to develop electric vehicles for the Chinese market by the 'Golden Triangle' formed by Dongfeng, Renault and Nissan."

"We expect to meet the transformation trend of the market in China; where cars are becoming light, electric, intelligent, interconnected and shared."

Renault, Dongfeng and Nissan (China) Investment (Nissan) have signed an agreement to set up the new joint venture. Renault will hold 25% of eGT, Nissan will hold 25% and Dongfeng the remaining 50%.

The newly formed eGT is planned to be based in the City of Shiyan, Hubei Province in central China. The electric vehicle will be produced at the Dongfeng plant of Shiyan which has a production and sales capacity of 120,000 vehicles a year. Start of production of the new EV is forecast for 2019.

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China is the world's largest BEV market. In 2016, 256,879 BEVs were sold in the country, up 121% from the previous year.

In the first seven months of this year, production of BEVs reached 223,000 units with 204,000 sales, representing an increase of 37.8% and 33.6% respectively.