Nismo and Renaultsport to share tech

Nissan's and Renault's sporting divisions could share technology, parts and even entire powertrains in future, according to Renault's product boss.

Renaultsport is well established in Europe and particularly in the UK, traditionally the strongest market for hot hatchbacks. However, Nissan is mounting a fresh bid to establish its Nismo tuning company beyond its heartland in Japan. Now a senior Renault-Nissan Alliance figure has confirmed that the two companies could help each other in a bid to share costs.

'There will be some opportunities for synergies between Renaultsport and Nismo,' said Tom Lane, Renault product chief. 'The costs involved in powertrain development are enormous, for example, yet we have to acknowledge that the sales volumes involved in Renaultsport and Nismo are relatively modest.

'I'd say there is some scope for shared powertrains in the future; there's no point in each division developing its own 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine separately, for example.'

Nissan has recently issued bold new goals for Nismo and is likely to want the motorsport-influenced tuner to feature on more models in Europe. Drawing on Renaultsport's experience of existing product lines and engines should help it to achieve this more easily.

By John McIlroy