Renault and Nissan will build the electric vehicles on a new common platform, which is the result of the CEO Carlos Ghosn to make the alliance to amplify the join work in their strategic management unit and to enlarge economy range.

What is known for now is that Renault’s Zoe and Nissan’s Leaf are going to be built on the join platform, share underpinnings and electric motors, but the exterior will be different. Yet, Arnaud Deboeuf, senior vice president of Renault-Nissan BV, the alliance’s strategic management unit didn’t clarified the main questions such as will the Zoe grow to the compact model or will the Leaf be reduced to a subcompact model. Public still do not have the answer when the new Leaf and Zoe will be launched. Nonetheless, Debeof said it can happened after Leaf exterior details changes two years from now.

First alliance model with the new EV architecture Zoe, coming after 2020

Criticism that Renault and Nissan still doesn’t share enough of platforms and powertrains, even though partnership has begun 18 years ago. The alliance now shares platforms and powertrains across key product lines, Deboeuf said. These include: Compact crossovers with the Nissan Qashqai and Renault Kadjar; midsize crossovers with the Nissan X-Trail and Renault Koleos; Subcompact crossovers with the Nissan Juke and Renault Captur; Subcompact cars with the new Nissan Micra and Renault Clio.

Renault and Nissan will continue to use different automatic transmissions, and Deboeuf said it is because of the preferences of customers.

“We will continue to offer continuous variable transmissions (CVTs) in Asia but not in Europe, where they never gained traction. For Europe, we will continue to rely on dual-clutch transmissions,” he said.