No-say Nissan had tech that drove Fiat Chrysler-Renault idea

The board of Renault, meeting Thursday, didn't

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get as far as voting on the proposal, announced last week, which would have created the world's third biggest automaker, trailing only Volkswagen AG of Germany and Japan's Toyota Motor Corp.

When the French government, Renault's top shareholder with a 15% stake, asked for more time to convince Nissan, Fiat Chrysler Chairman John Elkann abruptly withdrew the offer.

Although analysts say reviving the talks isn't out of the question, they say trust among the players appears to have been broken.

"The other companies made the mistake of underestimating Nissan's determination to say, 'No,' " said Katsuya Takuechi, senior analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo.

Renault and Fiat Chrylser highlighted possible synergies that come from sharing parts and research costs as the benefits of the merger. But what Fiat Chrysler lacks and really wanted was what's called in the industry "electrification technology," Takeuchi said.

With emissions regulations getting stricter around the world, having such technology is crucial.

Yokohama-based Nissan makes the world's best-selling electric car Leaf.

Its Note, an electric car equipped with a small gas engine to charge its battery, was Japan's No. 1 selling car for the fiscal year through March, the first time in 50 years that a Nissan model beat Toyota and Honda Motor Co. for that title.

Nissan is also a leader in autonomous-driving technology, another area all the automakers are trying to innovate.

https://phys.org/news/2019-06-no-say-nissan-tech-drove-fiat.html