Renault and Nissan to be third largest carmaker

Renault and Nissan will become the world’s third largest carmaking group – after General Motors and Toyota – when the French company seals a partnership with Russia’s Avtovaz, according to the French-Japanese company’s chief executive Carlos Ghosn.

Ghosn said: “Renault, Nissan and Avtovaz will pass the 7m mark.”

He added that the acquisition of a 25 per cent stake of Avtovaz was going well and expected a contract to be signed within weeks.

Russia’s largest carmaker has the capacity to produce about 1m vehicles. It sold around 700,000 units last year in Russia and exported about 180,000, mostly to other Soviet states.

Renault and Nissan, which formed an alliance 10 years ago, sold 6.16m cars last year making them the industry’s fifth largest car manufacturer by volume, after GM, Toyota, Ford Motor and Volkswagen.