Renault, Nissan, And Mitsubishi Invest In Ampere Electric Vehicle Maker

New Nissan 20-23 which is known as the forerunner of Nissan Micra EV. (Doc. Nissan Global)

JAKARTA - The Alliance between Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi has confirmed its participation in investments for French electric vehicle maker (EV) Ampere. This investment aims to accelerate the development of electric cars in Europe, especially by presenting more affordable electric vehicles.

Reporting from Reuters on Wednesday, December 6, the alliance explains that investments made will be more focused and regional in nature. Each company will inject funds into Ampere to support the development of Ampere-branded electric cars.

Nissan expressed its commitment by investing up to 600 million euros, while Mitsubishi will account for 200 million euros to support Ampere, which is planned to be introduced to the public in the coming year.

Makoto Uchida, CEO of Nissan, confirmed that Nissan will be a strategic investor for Ampere. Uchida added that Nissan might be leveraging electric vehicle software and Ampere connectivity innovation in markets outside Europe.

"Developing electric vehicles around the world will be very challenging," said Uchida.

Ampere will be responsible for developing and producing an electric version of Nissan Micra for the European market, as well as a medium-sized electric SUV for Mitsubishi. Luca de Meo, Renault CEO, stated that Ampere will be able to reduce production costs for Nissan Micra EV by up to 50 percent.

Previously, Renault and Nissan managed to complete the restructuring of the alliance after months of negotiations. The negotiation process took longer than expected because Nissan was cautious about protecting his intellectual property in future collaboration.