The assembly of electric cars, axis to renew the Renault-Nissan alliance

The conversations of Nissan Motor Co. con Renault SA The focus on renewing their alliance is to strengthen their competitiveness as equal partners and to get the most out of their investment in electric cars, the president of the Japanese automaker told Reuters.

Talks with Renault, Nissan’s main shareholder, have less than two weeks left to meet the companies’ Nov. 15 target for a deal, according to people with knowledge of the talks.

Nissan CEO, Makoto Uchida, declined to comment on whether a deal could be reached this month. But he said that he was talking to his Renault pair, Luca de Meoevery weekend and that the talks would be “continuous in the future”.

People familiar with the negotiations have said the technology sharing had emerged as a sticking point.

Uchida, who has spent much of his Nissan career in positions related to the Franco-Japanese alliance, stressed that the talks were based on mutual trust. Each company had valuable technology and it was to be expected that technology transfer would be discussed, he added.

He said the goal was to improve carmakers’ ability to compete at a time of economic uncertainty and as the industry moves toward what it described as its biggest transformation in a century with the switch to electric vehicles.

“The discussion we are having is how to make our competitiveness even stronger … That is the first thing,” Uchida said.

His comments were the first he has made to the media since the automakers said last month they were discussing the future of their alliance. The alliance, which began with an investment from Renault in 1999, was instrumental in turning the Japanese carmaker around.

However, Nissan executives have complained over the years of an unequal ownership structure, with Renault owning 43% of Nissan and the Japanese automaker only holding a 15% non-refundable stake. I vote at Renault.

People with knowledge of the talks have said the two sides have been discussing a reduction in Renault’s stake, potentially to 15%, and the terms on which this could happen.

“We want it to be an equal partnership,” Uchida said, adding that an “equal partnership would make sense and that would speed up collaboration even more.”

He did not comment on the possible levels of participation.

In addition to talks with Nissan, Renault has also been in talks with Geely Automobile Holdings about the possibility of the Chinese automaker taking a stake in its internal combustion engine unit, people familiar with the talks have said.

This unit includes Renault production centers in Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Romania and Latin America.