it was like a cycle

renault was using good stuff from nissan
nissan was experimenting with shit from renault to get that european flair and make use of the technology transfer
end up nissan become shit because shit from renault
nissan shit
renault good
renault take tech from nissan
now renault also shit
now turn-turn also shit 

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Your judgement is wrong because you generalise it.
It is not generally things from Europe are shit but mostly are shit 
But in the case of Renault x Nissan, Carlos Ghosn was just the evil behind it all.
He was playing Renault and Nissan with his left and right hands, having positions in both companies.
Cheaper stuff from Japan going to Renault.
Then old tech from Renault forced down Nissan's throat.
Yeah, like how we laugh at Najib (politician) propose something for Najib (MOF) to validate it for Najib (PM) to approve it.

VW is a giant don't compare it with failing automakers like Renault.
Before the market shift in May, every automaker rush to diversify and improve their EV offerings.
Deals take time so us on the outside might think why VW doing it now.

Stellantis born from combining Fiat and Pug, both brands are jaguh kampung.
Leapmotor is a new boy in the electric game.
It is the right time to buy into Leapmotor.
After listing they have been producing better products.
20% stake doesn't give Stellantis any leverage in Leapmotor but it gives them access to technology transfer.
Something they would really find useful because they can design beautiful and quirky cars with great marketing behind it but haven't had luck sourcing good drivetrains.
Even the venture of Prince engine, BMW  then went ahead to develop N-series engines from it.
While the vanilla one was used in Citroens and their luxury brand DS, and Pug.
I see the deal as a win for both sides if they don't fuck it up.

Asian car makers is a big market, this includes India, SK and Japan.

I don't really read up much about the Indian car makers but iinm except for Tata acquiring Land Rover and Jaguar from Ford, the others are mostly successful JV with Japanese companies, e.g. Maruti Suzuki is like Proton/Perodua a government driven initiative and JV with a successful Japanese brand. I think overall their internal demand is high but Tata and Mahindra aren't doing too well outside of India except Land Rover & Jaguar because of badge appeal.

In Japan, Mazda was struggling but they seem to have come out of that funk. Subaru has joined the fold of Toyota. Nissan and Mitsubishi are hugging each other to weather the storm. i see either one doing what Ford is doing, focusing more on commercial vehicles and selling their hot cars like Evo, Skyline and Fairlady only, or JV with either Mazda or Honda as these two are very good with passenger cars now but don't have strong offerings for pickup trucks and commercial vehicles.

Things can change quickly though.

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yup they do
they could've been so much more but it seems like the timing was off and although they're not struggling, they're far from what could have been
but they found their niche of producing low quantity quirky and unique cars that aren't beige boxes on the road
orochi was a marketing disaster but luckily it didn't sink the company
i recall 90s-00s they were still using a lot of nissan's and exported to exclusive dealers around the world citing unique designs but with under nissan underpinnings upkeep is low comparatively. if they were successful then they would've become bigger by now.

i really like the rock star, reminds me of a vette stringray 

if u cannot understand
i cannot help u