Renault ends common purchasing agreement with Nissan and Mitsubishi

PARIS (Reuters) -French carmaker Renault said on Tuesday that it would end its common purchasing agreements with partners Nissan and Mitsubishi with a view to having a more agile structure that could make decisions more quickly.

The move is aimed at better adapting to automotive markets that are becoming more regional due to differences in regulations, such as over electrification and connectivity, Renault said.

The alliance's purchasing organisation will evolve into distinct entities focused on a project-by-project approach, it added.

Renault and Nissan finalised at the end of July the terms of a restructured alliance after months of negotiations.

Talks dragged on months longer than expected due in part to Nissan, which was concerned about protecting its intellectual property in future collaborations.

The July agreement freed both companies to focus on the more pressing problem of navigating the fast-changing industry landscape.

For Nissan, that means contending with an increasingly grim outlook for foreign automakers in China, the world's biggest car market, while Renault is focusing on creating a separate electric vehicle business called Ampere.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon;additional reporting by Gilles GuillaumeEditing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Mark Potter)