Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Wants to Invest $1 Billion in Auto Tech Startups
The world’s largest automotive alliance will invest as much as $1 billion to fund mobility startups over the next five years as it looks to make inroads with new technology at a time of rapid upheaval for the transportation sector.
Carmaking partners Renault (RNSDF, +0.25%), Nissan Motor (NSANY, +0.38%) and Mitsubishi Motors (MMTOF, -0.07%) will invest as much as $200 million during the venture capital fund’s first year, the alliance said in a statement Tuesday. The fund, called Alliance Ventures, will finance new developments in electrification, autonomy, connectivity and artificial intelligence.
The fund’s first strategic investment is in Ionic Materials, a Woburn, Massachusetts-based company developing cobalt-free solid-state battery materials that can be used in electric vehicles.
In September, the Franco-Japanese alliance announced plans to introduce 12 new purely electric vehicles by 2022 while extending the models’ range and cutting battery costs. It also plans to bring to market 40 vehicles with autonomous-drive technology.
/Source: Fortune/
Jan. 11, 2018