In perhaps a very unsurprising development, Chrysler and Nissan have announced that they will be undergoing model sharing and will leave the door open to extensive product sharing plans. In this new plan, Nissan will allow a Chrysler designed compact car to be built at a Nissan plan in Japan based on a Nissan platform, presumably the Versa chassis. Likewise, Nissan will be allowed to manufacture a full-size truck based on the Ram platform in their Mexico based plant.
Since Daimler sold Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management, CCM has been working to turn the company around, and perhaps find another buyer.
Chrysler has been struggling for sometime, hence their split from Daimler. The partnership will help produce a stronger performer in a market that will be crucial to the company’s success in the future. Chrysler dealers such as River Valley Motors have seen the effects of not having a reliable and fuel efficient vehilce in the compan’y lineup. In addition, Nissan also will benefit as the company needs a manufacturing home for their full-size truck and Armada/Infiniti QX56. In addition, Nissan has announced its plans to further its involvement in the manufacturing and sale of commercial vehicles, which increases its need to have a strong pickup offering.
With the shifts in consumer demands, the two companies can definitely benefit from one another, and some say this could lead to another brand under the Renault-Nissan umbrella.
Volvo Dives into Plug-in Hybrid Technology
Volvo has been struggling amid slumping global sales, but that hasn’t stopped the automaker from diving into research and development. One such as product of its R&D efforts is a new plug-in hybrid that will be due by 2012. Volvo has committed itself to producing a high mileage diesel-electric plug-in hybrid, but it has yet to confirm its plans to sell the vehicle in the U.S.Lexus ES Still Critical to Luxury Brand Lineup
As one Lexus’ most popular models, there will be plenty of drivers that will be happy to see a revamped Lexus ES 350 coming to showrooms later this month. While it may not be a full redesign, the updating certainly brings needed enhancements.Euro Civic Type-R Teases U.S. Consumers
In the U.S., Honda is mostly known for producing somewhat conservative, economical cars. However, the image of Honda outside of the States is far more performance oriented. This is attributed to a range of models that can be had overseas, but remain unavailable here.