Renault to develop, build next-generation Nissan Micra

French automaker Renault will develop and assemble the next generation of partner Nissan’s Micra models, a senior executive at the Japanese automaker said, as the two companies try to rework their alliance with tighter cooperation in production.

Ashwani Gupta, Nissan’s chief operating officer, said in an interview with France’s Le Monde newspaper published on Monday that the Micra plan was an example of their “leader-follower” strategy, with one company taking the lead on specific car types.

Nissan Micra models are already assembled at Renault’s Flins factory located in France, although that site is set to be turned over to recycling activities by 2024, when the life cycle of the car ranges made there expires.

“For the next generation of Micra, we will follow Renault, and we will ask Renault to develop and make the future Micra for us,” said Gupta.

Both have a hard time financially, Renault and Nissan have cleared the decks of old managers and outlined joint cost-saving strategies as they try to move on from a scandal surrounding former alliance head Carlos Ghosn.

Ghosn, who fled detention in Japan in December 2019. He is now in Lebanon, rejects financial misconduct charges against him.