Cars.co.za report offers interesting insights
Cars.co.za recently launched Industry Report 2026 at its DealerCon summit, offers insight into the forces shaping South Africa’s vehicle market.
- Dealer News
- 22 September 2026
Renault Group, Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, the members of one of the world’s leading automotive alliances, announced common projects and actions to accelerate and to shape their shared future towards 2030.
Continuing the Leader-Follower scheme defined in May 2020, select technology is developed by one leading team with the support of those who follow, thereby allowing each member of the Alliance to access all the key technologies.
“Among the world's automotive leaders, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance is a proven, unique model. For 22 years, we have been building on our respective cultures and strengths for our common benefit,” said Jean-Dominique Senard, Chairman of the Alliance.
The Alliance members have developed a “smart differentiation” methodology that defines the desired level of commonality for each vehicle, integrating several parameters of possible pooling, such as platforms, production plants, powertrains or vehicle segment.
This is supplemented and enhanced by a stricter approach to design and upper-body differentiation. For example, the common platform for the C and D segment will carry five models from three brands of the Alliance (Nissan Qashqai and X-Trail, Mitsubishi Outlander, Renault Austral and an upcoming seven-seater SUV).
Strengthening this process, the Alliance members will enhance usage of common platforms in the coming years from 60% today to more than 80% of its combined 90 models in 2026.
The Alliance will also accelerate its investment in electric mobility, with an additional investment of 23 billion euro in the next five years, resulting in 35 new EV models by 2030.
CMF-EV is the global, flexible, EV platform. It will be on the road soon as the base for the Nissan Ariya EV crossover and Renault Megane E-Tech Electric. The CMF-EV platform, with its technological innovations and the potential offered by its modularity, is a benchmark platform for a new generation of electric vehicles for the Alliance partners.
The platform has been created to integrate and optimise all the elements specific to a 100% electric powertrain, hosting a new, high-performance motor and an ultra-thin battery. By 2030, more than 15 models will be based on the CMF-EV platform, with up to 1.5 million cars produced on this platform a year.
The Alliance is working with common partners to achieve real scale and affordability, which will enable it to reduce battery costs by 50% by 2026 and 65% by 2028.
With shared platforms and electronics, by 2026 Alliance members expect to have more than ten million vehicles on the road across 45 Alliance models equipped with autonomous driving systems.
Cars.co.za recently launched Industry Report 2026 at its DealerCon summit, offers insight into the forces shaping South Africa’s vehicle market.
Nissan has introduced the Tekton, a new compact SUV for the South African market. The model is built on the Renault‑Nissan alliance’s CMF‑B platform and is closely related to the Renault Duster, sharing engines and mechanical components.
At the recent DealerCon 2026, hosted by Cars.co.za automotive excellence was celebrated by honouring top executives in the automotive retails industry.
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