The automotive alliance that consists of French automaker Renault together with Nissan and Mitsubishi, plus their respective brands, has branded itself the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance.

And on Friday, Carlos Ghosn, who serves as chairman and CEO, laid out the new strategy “Alliance 2022” which is to guide this behemoth over the next six years.

Ghosn, who has been central in shaping the alliance since 1999, when Renault first bought a sizable stake in a struggling Nissan, continues to further streamline the operations which should result in double annual synergies to around $12 billion by 2022 when the plan is scheduled to reach its end.

Specific goals include further collaboration on common platforms, powertrains and next-generation electric, self-driving and connectivity technologies. The result should be nine million vehicles sold annually based on just four platforms. The plan will also extend the use of common powertrains to 75 percent of total sales.

The alliance also plans to benefit from enhanced economies of scale. Ghosn is predicting 14 million vehicle sales and $240 billion in revenues annually by the end of the plan. The alliance sold 5.27 million vehicles in the first six months of this year to make it the biggest automaker in terms of volume, so it is well poised to reach its target.

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn presenting at company annual meeting, Yokohama, Jun 2015

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn presenting at company annual meeting, Yokohama, Jun 2015

As mentioned above, the plan also calls for major expansion in electric car technologies, alongside the development and deployment of self-driving and connectivity technologies. Specifics include:

  • Develop common, scalable electric car platforms
  • Develop a family of electric car motors and batteries
  • Launch 12 electric cars by 2022
  • Reduce battery costs by 30 percent by 2022
  • Introduce batteries with over 372 miles of range
  • Introduce high-speed charging that can add over 140 miles of range in 15 minutes
  • Introduce plug-in hybrid powertrains for larger vehicles
  • Introduce a common infotainment system and common connectivity system
  • Introduce a common cloud platform to manage all data interfaces
  • Introduce self-driving systems on 40 models, including a fully self-driving system

The last goal of introducing a fully self-driving system is part of Ghosn’s vision to see the alliance become the operator a self-driving taxi service. Compared to the other goals in the “Alliance 2022” strategy, deploying a fully autonomous car by 2022, one without a human driver being necessary, seems a bit overly ambitious. Nevertheless, it is clear Ghosn sees the alliance becoming a major player in the self-driving car space. His vision is for the company to become an operator of self-driving cars for public transit use and car-sharing, in addition to privately owned cars.

“We intend to deliver on growing synergies, with three autonomous companies cooperating with the efficiency of one,” Ghosn said in a statement. “The alliance has grown and performed with two members since 1999; with ‘Alliance 2022’ we will prove that we will grow and perform with three companies or more.”