Nissan forges closer IT links with Renault following 20,000 job cuts

Nissan is to deepen its technological partnership with Renault, including sharing back-office IT systems and networks, in the wake of today's announcement that it will cut 20,000 jobs.

The company said a detailed review will "identify deeper synergy opportunities within the Renault-Nissan Alliance".

The firms, which celebrate the 10th anniversary of their alliance this year, will concentrate on future investments in products, technology, support functions and purchasing cost reductions.

"Each company will contribute to free cash flow with a minimum of 90bn yen (€750m) in synergy benefits during FY2009," the company said.

A spokesman for Nissan UK said 60% of the job cuts, which affect Nissan globally, would be in Japan. They come on top of previously announced lay-offs of 1,200 in the UK, 1,600 in Spain, and redundancies in the US.