The Strategic Cooperation Between Daimler and the Renault-Nissan Alliance Forms Agreement with Ford to Accelerate

The Strategic Cooperation Between Daimler and the Renault-Nissan Alliance Forms Agreement with Ford to Accelerate Commercialization of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Technology

    --  Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., have
        signed a unique three-way agreement  for the joint development
        of common fuel cell system to speed up availability of
        zero-emission technology and significantly reduce investment
        costs
    --  Collaboration expected to lead to launch of world's first
        affordable, mass-market fuel cell electric vehicles as early as
        2017
    --  Unique collaboration across three continents and three
        companies will help define global specifications and component
        standards
    --  Sends clear signal to suppliers, policymakers and the industry
        to encourage the further development of hydrogen infrastructure
        worldwide

YOKOHAMA, Japan, Jan. 28, 2013 /CNW/ - Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company and 
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., have signed a unique three-way agreement to accelerate 
the commercialization of fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) technology.

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:

http://www.multivu.com/mnr/58680-renault-nissan-daimler-ford-partnership

The goal of the collaboration is to jointly develop a common fuel cell 
electric vehicle system while reducing investment costs associated with the 
engineering of the technology. Each company will invest equally towards the 
project. The strategy to maximize design commonality, leverage volume and 
derive efficiencies through economies of scale will help to launch the world's 
first affordable, mass-market FCEVs as early as 2017.

Together, Daimler, Ford and Nissan have more than 60 years of cumulative 
experience developing FCEVs. Their FCEVs have logged more than 10 million km 
in test drives around the world in customers' hands and as part of 
demonstration projects in diverse conditions. The partners plan to develop a 
common fuel cell stack and fuel cell system that can be used by each company 
in the launch of highly differentiated, separately branded FCEVs, which 
produce no CO(2) emissions while driving.

The collaboration sends a clear signal to suppliers, policymakers and the 
industry to encourage further development of hydrogen refueling stations and 
other infrastructure necessary to allow the vehicles to be mass-marketed.

Powered by electricity generated from hydrogen and oxygen, FCEVs emit only 
water while driving. FCEVs are considered complementary to today's 
battery-electric vehicles and will help expand the range of zero-emission 
transportation options available to consumers.

"Fuel cell electric vehicles are the obvious next step to complement today's 
battery electric vehicles as our industry embraces more sustainable 
transportation," said Mitsuhiko Yamashita, Member of the Board of Directors 
and Executive Vice President of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., supervising Research 
and Development.  "We look forward to a future where we can answer many 
customer needs by adding FCEVs on top of battery EVs within the zero-emission 
lineup."

"We are convinced that fuel cell vehicles will play a central role for 
zero-emission mobility in the future. Thanks to the high commitment of all 
three partners we can put fuel cell e-mobility on a broader basis. This means 
with this cooperation we will make this technology available for many 
customers around the globe," said Prof. Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of 
Management of Daimler AG, Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development.

"Working together will significantly help speed this technology to market at a 
more affordable cost to our customers," said Raj Nair, group vice president, 
Global Product Development, Ford Motor Company. "We will all benefit from this 
relationship as the resulting solution will be better than any one company 
working alone."

For the full press release, go to: 
http://www.media.blog.alliance-renault-nissan.com/news/3693

Video: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/58680-renault-nissan-daimler-ford-partnership

Media contacts: Daimler, Koert Groeneveld, 
+49-711-17-92311, koert.groeneveld@daimler.com; Ford, Alan Hall, 
+1-313-594-3744, ahall32@ford.com; Nissan, Koji Okuda, 
+81-45-523-5552, koji-okuda@mail.nissan.co.jp

SOURCE: Renault-Nissan Alliance

To view this news release in HTML formatting, please use the following URL: 
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2013/28/c9011.html

CO: Renault-Nissan Alliance
NI: AUT ORDER 

-0- Jan/28/2013 11:15 GMT