CMF: How the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance cuts costs

Sharing platforms and parts can help automakers reduce costs and increase economies of scale.

For example, while Volkswagen has the MQB and MEB “toolkit”, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance has what it calls CMF. But what is it, and how does it work for these three very different companies?

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What is CMF?

CMF stands for Common Module Family, and the Alliance states that rather than being an architecture or platform in itself, it is a ‘parts library’ of compatible ‘Big Modules’.

For example, engineers and designers developing a new car using CMF will be able to choose from a variety of engine compartment designs, and then combine them with the right chassis and front cabin. based on requirements such as vehicle size and desired powertrain range.

For the Union, the CMF seemed a logical decision. Unlike the Volkswagen Group, where brands such as Skoda, VW and Audi are wholly owned, the Alliance has a much more complex structure whereby Renault and Nissan (which also owns a controlling stake in Mitsubishi) both have cross-shareholdings and have formed a ‘strategic alliance’, but are formally independent.

This means that each manufacturer brings its own range of platforms to the Alliance and CMF can be used with these platforms. This almost acts as a bridge to increase the similarity of parts between different vehicles and helps to standardize the use of certain parts across all Union vehicles.

This may not offer the same cost savings as directly having a single platform that can underpin multiple cars, the Alliance estimates that economies of scale allow for a 20 percent reduction in costs. -30% of costs during parts procurement (for the Union as a whole), while also facilitating a 30-40% per-measure reduction in product and process engineering.

Platforms typically require a single electronic architecture, infotainment systems, and other technology (such as advanced driver assistance systems) to be used on all vehicles built. from them, however, the view that the CMF is a collection of parts also allows the Union to be more flexible and responsive to changes in this regard.

For example: Renault Austral and Nissan partners such as Qashqai both incorporate CMF, but also provide the flexibility for Renault to use Android Automotive as its infotainment platform, while Nissan has the freedom to use the in-house infotainment system.

This also facilitates future protection in other areas, such as electric vehicles. Both Nissan Ariya and Renault Megane E-Tech Electric were designed from the outset as all-electric vehicles, but development and production costs were reduced by incorporating elements of the CMF into a new ‘CMF-EV’ version.

While the Alliance describes the CMF as a bank of parts or modules, which can be used on different vehicles, there are some ‘collections’ of parts that are better suited to a vehicle segment. Specifically.

In the same way that the CMF-EV is a collection of CMF parts suitable for electric vehicles, there are also collections of parts suitable for light cars, small cars and midsize cars.

CMF was first announced in mid-2013, with the first Nissan cars to use it, namely Qashqai and X-Trailreleased in late 2013. A year later, Renault continued to launch new versions of the Espace, Scénic and Talisman (none of which were sold in Australia).

The first Mitsubishi car to apply CMF is a recently launched car Mitsubishi Outlander.

Light and small cars using CMF

For light cars and supercars, the Alliance uses a CMF-A or CMF-B module collection. While no CMF-A vehicles are sold in Australia, overseas the collection is used for vehicles destined for developing markets such as India, including small SUVs. Renault Kwid, Datsun redi-Go and Renault Triber and Kiger.

CMF-B has more presence in Australia, with vehicles such as Renault Captur and Arkana and Nissan Juke The SUV models are all sold domestically and incorporate parts from the CMF-B library.

Midsize cars using CMF

The midsize car is perhaps the segment where the versatility of the CMF is fully demonstrated through the CMF-CD modular collection.

On the Renault side, everything from Kadjar SUV and its Austral replacement, as well as Koleos Midsize and third-generation SUVs Kangoo valves, all use CMF-CD.

Meanwhile, Nissan has used the CMF-CD library of parts on the Qashqai and X-Trail generations, while Mitsubishi, currently under Nissan control, has also used it for the latest Outlander mine.

Note that unlike models using VW’s MQB toolkit, there is still a high degree of variation between the CMF-CD models. For example, despite adopting the latest Outlander CMF-CD, Mitsubishi was still able to retain plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and Super-All Wheel Control (S-AWC) full-time four-wheel drive technology, with this is not currently shared with equivalent rivals Renault Koleos or Nissan X-Trail.

Meanwhile, Nissan exclusively offers the e-Power hybrid system on Qashqai models, whereby only one electric motor drives the wheels. In contrast, Renault offers its own proprietary technologies on models such as the new Austral, such as the 4Control rear-wheel drive system, Android Automotive and optional mild hybrid powertrain.

Electric vehicles using CMF

As mentioned above, the Alliance has also developed derivatives of CMF to work with battery electric vehicles. In Australia, the first model to go on sale using CMF in a battery-electric setting will be the Renault Megane E-Tech Electric SUV, which will incorporate parts from the CMF-BEV library.

The first deliveries of E-Tech Electric are expected by the end of 2023 and it will have a 60kWh battery to provide a maximum range of 470 km on the WLTP cycle.

New Nissan Ariya The SUV also uses CMF-BEV, though the company hasn’t confirmed a local launch date.

For other markets, Renault also has a library of CMFA-BEV modules that adapt CMF-A for battery electric vehicles. Examples of cars based on this modular collection include the Renault City K-ZE, an EV variant of the Renault Kwid, also sold in Europe as the Dacia Spring Electric.