YOKOHAMA (Reuters) -- Renault and Nissan will review the capital structure of their alliance within the next three years, CEO Carlos Ghosn said, amid calls from investors for the French carmaker to release capital tied up in its Japanese partner.


Investors punished Renault SA shares after what the financial markets perceived as a disappointing six-year business plan announced on Feb. 10, mainly due to the lack of a more immediate plan to shore up its balance sheet through a planned change in the alliance's financial structure.
"We will be reviewing the financial structure not to end up with a merger ... but to respond to the main concern of investors saying, 'Maybe you're using too much capital for your financial structure,'" Ghosn, the CEO of both Renault and Nissan Motor Co., told Reuters in an interview on Friday.
"Hopefully it will come before (the halfway point of the Renault business plan)," he said.


Ghosn did not elaborate, but some analysts have suggested an outright merger while others say a divestment of part of Renault's 43.4 percent stake in Nissan would make sense. Nissan, which owns 15 percent of Renault, is worth more than twice as much as its French partner by stock market value.


Renault-Nissan plans to have four electric vehicles on sale by 2012 and further new models will follow from 2014 to 2016. The alliance has said it aims to put 1.5 million EVs on the road worldwide by 2016 and by 2015, it intends to have a production capacity of 500,000 EVs a year.