Toward the end of 2016, Nissan bought a controlling share of Mitsubishi, effectively expanding the Renault-Nissan alliance into a Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. And while we’ve only recently started to see signs of life at Mitsubishi, the latest news suggests that it’s ready to invest in new technology with its partners.
Reuters reports that Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi plan to pool $200 million to create a “mobility tech fund.” That fund will then be used to invest in startups, theoretically giving Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi the opportunity to better adapt to the industry’s shift toward autonomy and electrification.
“It will allow us to move faster on acquisitions ahead of our competition,” one source told Reuters.
CEO Carlos Ghosn is expected to announce the fund at the Consumer Electronics Show in a few days. Renault and Nissan will each reportedly contribute 40 percent of the cash, with Mitsubishi contributing the final 20 percent. At the moment, there’s no information on where Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi will begin investing this money, but Ghosn may explain more during the announcement at CES.
While this will be a new fund, the idea itself isn’t necessarily new. In the past, several other automakers have done something similar. BMW, for example, put about $600 million into its iVentures fund, while General Motors has put about $240 million into GM Ventures. PSA Group’s fund is smaller, only receiving about $100 million.
Source: Reuters
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