Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan are set to enter into talks for a merger, Nikkei Asia has reported. This could ultimately grow to include Mitsubishi, which would form two camps of Japanese automakers, the other being Toyota which has stakes in Subaru, Mazda and Suzuki.
The merger, if materialised, will pool the automaker’s resources for them to better compete against Tesla as well as Chinese electric vehicle makers, Nikkei Asia said. Honda and Nissan plan to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for equity stakes in a new holding company under which the resulting combined company would operate, Nikkei Asia wrote.
Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi combined sold around four million vehicles in the first half of this year, whereas Toyota sold 5.2 million vehicles in the same period. Should Honda and Nissan join forces with Mitsubishi, this would create a group with an annual volume of 6.7 million units, that would place it above General Motors but below Hyundai.
Meanwhile, Honda’s earlier plans for a series of affordable electric vehicles with General Motors based on a new global architecture had been planned for market introduction in 2027, however this was reportedly scrapped in October 2023 On the other hand, GM has signed an MoU with Hyundai for collaboration across key strategic areas.
In September, Nissan announced that it has reacquired around 5% of its own shares from Renault in a deal valued at nearly 80 billion yen (about USD552 million or RM2.29 billion), and Renault said in a statement at the time that the share sale to Nissan will result in an estimated capital loss of 1.1 billion euros (RM5.1 billion) as the value of the stake is lower than previously reported on its balance sheet.