Nissan would give up Ram-based Titan
The highly touted alliance between Chrysler and Nissan now appears to be on very thin ice if it’s not dead already.
Nissan officials confirmed Thursday that two projects integral to the alliance are now under review.
“Last year, Nissan and Chrysler announced three projects to provide each other with certain vehicles on an OEM basis. Nissan and Chrysler have agreed for Nissan to supply compact vehicles to Chrysler for sale in South America beginning later this year. That project continues to progress,” Nissan spokesman Fred Standish said in a statement.
“Because of current economic conditions, Nissan and Chrysler teams working on the two other projects have been asked to ensure that financial objectives for both companies can be met before these two projects move forward,” Standish said.
Earlier this week, Nissan announced plans to eliminate 20,000 jobs world wide in an effort to cut costs. Nissan executives had also stressed that every aspect of the company’s operations would come under review.
The Nissan announcement appeared to catch Chrysler executives off balance at least momentarily.
Vice chairman Jim Press, who later said he was unaware of any decision by Nissan to freeze the alliance, said during an appearance before the Economic Club of Chicago that Chrysler was jointly developing a new subcompact car with help from Nissan. In return, he noted Chrysler is expected to develop and build a new pickup truck for Nissan, Press said.
“We have often said we can be viable on our own but that mutuall beneficial alliances and partnerships can be a very valuable part of long-term success. One example is our partnership with Nissan in which we will get a world-class B car segment car by 2010 and we will manufacture for Nissan a segment-leading pickup truck in our plants,” Press said.
Press also said Chrysler is continuing to make progress in its negotiations with the Italian carmaker, Fiat. Completion of the negotiations will require final approval of bridge loans from the U.S. government, he said.
The Nissan announcement, however, appeared to reinforce the speculation that Nissan-Renault boss Carlos Ghosn was looking for a way to get out of the alliance ever since Chrysler got in deep financial trouble last year. Speculation is that if Ghosn decided he needs a truck for the U.S. market, it will be cheaper to buy some assets at a bankruptcy sale than trying to help keep Chrysler afloat.