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TOKYO, July 29 (Reuters) - Japan's third-largest automaker, Nissan Motor Co Ltd , plans to increase cooperation with its European partner Renault in product development and sales, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper said on Monday.
The business daily said the two carmakers will increase the amount of parts they supply to each other and that Nissan had sold its sales unit in Germany to Renault.
Nissan spokesman Gerry Spahn declined comment on the German sales unit, but said engine and platform cooperation was proceeding according to schedule, as detailed in a corporate action plan in May.
Nissan, which is 44 percent owned by Renault, plans to share eight common engines and seven transmission types as part of a new three-year business plan. The companies also plan to share 10 common car platforms.
Nissan, which increased its stake in Renault to 15 percent from 13.5 percent this year, has mostly limited its cooperation with the French automaker to procurement deals as part of its restructuring plan.
Renault and Nissan already supply each other with parts for several new models and plan to share a common platform for Nissan's highly popular subcompact, the March.
The companies have already joined sales operations in seven European countries to maximise Renault's extensive local market sales knowledge, the paper said.
Shares in Nissan jumped 5.45 percent to 812 yen in early trade on Monday, powered by a weakening of the yen in recent sessions and in line with other big Japanese automakers