Nissan officially owns 34% of Mitsubishi

Already announced back in May, this news should no longer surprise. But if you’re a fan of cars in general—and of Mitsubishi or Nissan in particular—you might still find it surreal that the erstwhile fierce rivals (at least in our market) are now stablemates after Nissan formally completed on October 20 its purchase of a 34% equity stake in Mitsubishi Motors.

The stake—big enough to give Nissan control over its fellow Japanese automaker—is said to be worth 237 billion yen. That’s $2.28 billion (or P110 billion in our currency). No loose change, obviously. What this kind of money buys is an alliance that could finally break into the world’s top three automotive groups in terms of “global volumes.” This alliance now counts Nissan, Mitsubishi and French car firm Renault as members. Together, they are projected to deliver 10 million sold units in 2016.