Progress has been made regarding a restructured alliance deal between Nissan and Renault as the two automakers continue to resolve their disagreements. Per Reuters, a Nissan board committee has reviewed proposals sent by Renault to renew the alliance, and it appears they were well-received. The next phase of talks will supposedly involve Renault CEO Luca De Meo heading to Japan later this month to talk directly with his Nissan counterpart, CEO Makoto Uchida.

The Nissan board's review and apparent greenlight is the first major sign of a restructured alliance since talks began last October. Nissan's main concern has been over intellectual property, specifically EV technologies it developed in-house. How come?

Because Renault is also currently working to finalize a deal with Chinese automaker Geely and Saudi Arabian state oil producer Aramco as an investor to help co-develop gasoline engines and hybrid technologies.

Nissan, put simply, does not want outside players to gain access to its EV tech, and it's up to Renault to ensure that won't happen. For example, the platform for the Nissan Ariya, internally called CMF-EV, will also underpin future Renault EVs. Nissan wants it to remain that way by not including additional players. Renault very recently provided Nissan with proposals to address the issue.

The two automakers are also negotiating a proposal to reduce Renault's stake in Nissan from the current 43% to 15%, which is equal to Nissan's stake in Renault. The remaining 28% stake in Nissan would instead be transferred to a trust after it's sold by Renault.

Also, Nissan is apparently keen to establish a new EV company, currently code-named Ampere. Further details are not available at this time.

Renault continues to be under pressure from the French government to work out a new deal because it owns a 15% stake in the automaker, making it the largest shareholder. Talks between the two automakers broke down late last year despite their efforts to finalize an agreement before 2022 ended. That obviously failed to happen, but the talk remains ongoing.

The alliance hit a major obstacle following the ousting and subsequent arrest of now-former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn in April 2019. A new alliance agreement will benefit both in multiple ways, along with junior partner Mitsubishi.

The good news today is that there appears to be solid momentum leading to a signed agreement.