Daimler, parent company to Mercedes-Benz, will continue working with Renault but it’s dissolving its equity ties with the French automaker.
Automotive News Europe reports Daimler is selling off its €316 million (A$493 million) stake in the French automaker.
It’s the latest step in the unraveling of equity ties in the three-way partnership between Daimler and Renault and Nissan.
In May 2021, Nissan sold off its entire €1.15 billion (A$1.79 billion) stake in Daimler, with Renault selling its holding in Daimler a couple of months earlier in March 2021.
Both Nissan and Renault recorded mammoth multi-billion dollar losses in the 2019-20 financial year, exacerbated by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Renault Twingo 
Smart ForFour
Daimler’s industrial partnership with Renault remains unchanged and won’t be impacted by the decision, according to a statement issued to Automotive News Europe.
At the moment, Daimler still has a 3.1 per cent holding in Nissan but it’s expected this will be offloaded in the future.
In 2010, all three companies announced they owned a minority stake in each other with the aim of producing shared engines, vehicles, platforms and manufacturing plants.
This saw the companies jointly develop the second-generation Smart ForFour and third-generation Renault Twingo city cars, neither of which were sold here.
Infiniti QX30 
Mercedes-Benz X-Class
Infiniti’s QX30 and Q30 crossovers were based on the same platform as the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, while the Mercedes-Benz X-Class ute shared a lot in common with the Nissan Navara.
The Infiniti brand as a whole and the X-Class ute were axed in Australia during 2020 following poor sales.
Mercedes-Benz revealed a new version of its Citan light-sized commercial van in August 2021 that’s based on the latest Renault Kangoo.
It also has plans to reveal a T-Class people mover based on the same Kangoo bones.
Mercedes-Benz Citan 
Renault Kangoo
All-electric versions of both of these vehicles are expected, with the eCitan scheduled to join the range from the second half of 2022.
Mercedes-Benz claims the eCitan has a range of 285km in WLTP tests and can charge from 10 to 80 per cent in 40 minutes.
It also says to expect no losses in payload or towing over the traditional internal-combustion Citan van.
Mercedes-Benz says both of these models are being assessed for the Australian market.
