The latest deal follows the establishment of a strategic partnership between Renault and AvtoVAZ in 2008, under which Renault bought a 25% stake and one share in the Russian car maker. This has now been expanded to include Nissan.

In addition, the scope of cooperation has been expanded to cover all major areas: platform sharing, manufacturing, research and development (R&D), logistics, purchasing and sales and marketing.

Under the new deal, all three car makers will have access to the other’s product platforms and engines and the Lada, Renault and Nissan brands will each develop a clear product cycle plan for the Russian market, and for Lada specifically, for markets outside Russia.

In addition, a common organisation, named “AvtoVAZ – Renault – Nissan Quality and Supplier Development” (ARNQSD), has been created to increase the number of locally sourced parts used.

Renault-Nissan also says that its “Alliance Production Way” will be gradually rolled out to cover the partners’ three plants in Russia, both to ensure maximum production flexibility and to enable AvtoVAZ to match the product quality and production costs realised by Renault-Nissan’s global plants.

Renault and Lada will also worth to develop a new pan-Russia sales network and will look to harmonise their parts and service strategy.