The new engine is already installed on Laguna Coupe, but will arrive on Laguna Sedan and Laguna Estate as soon as January 2009. In addition, Nissan's new Maxima, Pathfinder and Navara plus Infiniti's EX, FX and M models will get the new engine in the first months of 2009.
“It would not have been relevant for either Renault or Nissan to produce this powertrain on their own, as volumes would have been too low to make it profitable. Associating the two companies has both favored economies of scale and created higher output. The Renault-Nissan collaboration has reduced R&D expenditure and less industrial investment, as engineering and industrial were split. In short, working through the Alliance has decreased the total outlay of this engine to 180 million euros,” the Renault-Nissan alliance said in the statement.
The V6 dCI diesel engine was developed in Rueil-Malmaison, near Paris, being mostly based on other Renault engines, including the 2.0 dCI initially introduced in 2005.
More importantly, Renault says the new engine is capable of delivering pretty advanced performance, with Laguna Coupe able to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.3 seconds and from 80 to 120km/h in 6.10 seconds.
“The new V6 dCi is an example of what the Alliance is all about: the engine was developed by the two companies, has been assembled in a Renault plant and will be fitted in Renault, Nissan and Inifiniti vehicles. This practice makes it possible to share the entry ticket, to make economies of scale, and to offer more vehicle variants to customers,” the alliance concluded.
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