Mercedes and Renault-Nissan Alliance: What to Expect in the U.S.

Mercedes and Renault-Nissan Alliance: What to Expect in the U.S.:

DaimlerChrysler’s efforts to integrate with Mitsubishi and Hyundai to create a “global number one” in the 1990s resulted in catastrophic damage to Chrysler and Mitsubishi. The chemistry between Daimler and Chrysler never worked out, and Chrysler was finally dumped and left stranded with incredibly uncompetitive products. Financial firm Cerberus Capital Management took over in 2007 and oversaw the Pentastar’s final descent into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Mitsubishi’s story is similar. In 2004, in the midst of its own financial woes, Daimler cut off support and by 2005 had sold all of its shares in the Japanese company. Once the German consultants left, Mitsubishi teetered on the edge of bankruptcy and hasn’t fully recovered since. Only Hyundai emerged unscathed; a four-year cooperation with Daimler ended in 2004, and Hyundai executives told this writer they were “happy and relieved” to have survived the partnership without lasting damage. In fact, the Korean firm is now growing strongly.

Daimler has agreed to various other partnerships since—including one with Tesla and another with Chinese carmaker BYD—but the most far-reaching one seems to be one created with Renault-Nissan. More than a year after the partnership was announced in April 2010, Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche and Renault-Nissan honcho Carlos Ghosn have professed their happiness with its progress. They are not rushing into collaborative projects, instead preferring a slower approach, with both sides opening their portfolios of components and technologies. With Mercedes continuing to push downmarket, however, it’s becoming clear that the partnership will touch a seemingly ever-expanding number of vehicles, some of which will be offered in America. Below, a brief look at some of the fruit that should fall from this particular tree:

Smart and Renault Twingo: The next-generation two-door Smart (plus a new four-door derivative) will be launched in 2014. The Smart will be a sibling to the next Renault Twingo, a small front-driver currently in its second generation. Both the third-gen Twingo and the two upcoming Smart models will ride on a rear-engine platform evolved from Smart’s current architecture. But the small gasoline engines will be Renault three-bangers. There also will be an electric version (let’s hope someone nixes the “ED” name for version 2.0) with a Renault powertrain and Daimler-sourced batteries. The Smart models, with their Renault technology, will be offered in the U.S., but the Renault obviously won’t. For Renault, switching to a rear engine will represent a flashback of sorts: The last rear-engined Renault—apart from the Alpine sports cars—was the Renault 8, which went out of production in 1973.

Mercedes City Van: The Renault Kangoo light commercial vehicle will be rebadged as a Mercedes-Benz. In the commercial vehicles sector, cost is everything and image counts for nothing, which explains a name like Kangoo. This blatant badge engineering won’t hurt Mercedes’ image in Europe, although it might be a different story in the U.S., which is one reason this vehicle won’t come here.

A- and B-class: The next-generation A- and B-classes have been fully engineered by Mercedes-Benz, but they also will use small four-cylinder Renault engines slotted below their 1.6-liter gasoline and 1.8-liter diesel offerings. But even those Mercedes-built engines are insufficiently powerful for the U.S. market in their current configurations, so we’ll see more muscular versions when the A-class derivatives—including a small sedan and crossover—arrive on our shores.

Electric Vehicles: While Mercedes is not currently looking to install the Smart’s Renault-Nissan three-cylinder in the A- and B-class on its own—the German firm’s engineers have told us it wouldn’t net significant improvements in economy—the three-banger likely will see extensive duty as a range extender in electric cars offered by Mercedes. Those Mercs could be sold in the U.S. This includes vehicles built on the A-/B-class platform, as well as future C-, E-, and even S-class models.

Compact Infiniti: Nissan’s luxury division may build a compact car built on Benz’s A- and B-class platform. Such a car could adopt the styling of the Infiniti Etherea concept, and it would compete with the likes of the Lexus CT200h and Audi A3. The Mercedes platform is flexible enough to offer front- and all-wheel drive, and it’s designed to handle output levels of more than 300 hp. Such a car would certainly be an interesting addition to the Infiniti lineup in the U.S.

Mercedes-Benz OM651 four-cylinder diesel engine

Mercedes Engines for Infiniti: Infiniti will use four-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines from Mercedes for its future small and mid-size cars. The plan is to adopt the OM651 diesel and the M274 gasoline engine and alter them to provide a unique character; they’re also flexible enough to deliver a wide range of power outputs. No word on whether these engines will be offered in the U.S. as well, but they’d likely represent an improvement in refinement and efficiency over, say, the small-displacement V-6 offered in the G25. It also would do much to help Infiniti’s fleet fuel-consumption averages.

Going further, will the partnership eventually result in Renault-Nissan and Mercedes-Benz merging development and sharing quality standards? We received an emphatic “No” from Mercedes-Benz: “Mercedes will always remain Mercedes.” Whatever that means these days.