Mercedes-Benz Offloads Its Entire Renault Stake
Mercedes-Benz industry Renault Nissan
Mircea Panait
The three-way partnership between Mercedes, Renault, and Nissan is slowly but steadily coming apart as all three automakers need money for BEV development
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Photo: Mercedes-Benz

Daimler AG, the company that owns Mercedes-Benz, announced in April 2010 that it’s partnering up with the Renault-Nissan alliance to streamline production and cut some costs to improve the bottom line. The partnership meant that all three companies would own a minority stake in each other, but as Bob Dylan once said, the times are a-changin’.

Renault offloaded its entire stake in Daimler AG in March 2021, and Nissan followed in May 2021. That’s why the Germans have reportedly sold their stake in Groupe Renault, namely 9.2 million estimated at $362 million.

Bloomberg reports that “Daimler AG still retains a holding of 3.1 percent in Nissan,” the Japanese automaker that went into meltdown after the Carlos Ghosn fiasco. The cited publication says that all of the involved parties will continue to collaborate on twinned models that include the Smart ForTwo and Renault Twingo and the Mercedes-Benz Citan and Renault Kangoo.

As far as Daimler AG is concerned, the most noteworthy mishap of the partnership with Renault and Nissan is the X-Class line of mid-size pickup trucks. Based on the Navara that was discontinued from the Old Continent due to dwindling sales, the W470 ended production last year over truly disappointing sales. On a worldwide scale, the X-Class luxotruck moved 15,300 units in 2019 whereas the Ranger sold 89,571 in the U.S. alone.

What’s more, Daimler AG realized that compact vehicles made cheapy aren’t Mercedes enough in this competitive segment. Head honcho Ola Kallenius declared that “we went at a bit too far to cover each and every space into each and every segment,” and part of the reason Mercedes extended more than it was necessary is the Renault-Nissan partnership.

Going forward, Daimler AG will have to spend a whole lot of euros on BEV development as the European Union prepares for the Euro 7 emission standard in 2025 and the incoming ban of ICE-powered new cars. Norway, for example, will ban diesel- and gasoline-powered new cars from sale in 2025 while Germany and the Netherlands will join that club in 2030.