text: and much more collaboration. The core engineering is 
  
  common to all—that’s why the different organizations can 
  
  work together so closely, and why we’re more efficient 
  
  today. While each engineering center remains responsible 
  
  for meeting the specific tastes or specifications that its 
  
  local market demands, we have global oversight to ensure 
  
  consistency, with NTC supervising overall resource 
  
  management and facility investment. 
  
  We are building on these strengths through greater 
  
  collaboration with our suppliers—our project partners—and 
  
  doing it much further upstream. For example, we are 
  
  creating a facility at the NATC where we can disclose our 
  
  plans to suppliers during the very early planning stages. 
  
  This means we have to be much more open than before, 
  
  but in return we will gain a great deal from the ideas our 
  
  partners bring. 
  
  The Alliance with Renault is another major strength for 
  
  Nissan R&D. We identify areas of mutual interest and 
  
  decide which party will develop specific projects. Our basic 
  
  operating principle is to avoid duplicated efforts. We can 
  
  work separately, or together if there is mutual interest in 
  
  the development. For example, we have studied fuel-cell 
  
  vehicles—FCVs—as well as, advanced materials, safety, 
  
  and other areas together. Our shared goal is to maximize 