Recently, we discussed the financial woes of Japanese car manufacturer Nissan, whose executives have admitted has "only 12-14 months to survive."
Well, it looks like Nissan may be saved by an unlikely hero, one of its primary Japanese rivals, Honda.
This is very, very big news. These are already two of the biggest carmakers in the world, and with their powers combined they would be a top-3 auto manufacturer.
The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors Corp. also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses ...
Honda's president, Toshihiro Mibe, said Honda and Nissan will attempt to unify their operations under a joint holding company. Honda will lead the new management, retaining the principles and brands of each company. They aim to have a formal merger agreement by June and to complete the deal and list the holding company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by August 2026, he said.
The AP blames Nissan's woes on their inability to adapt to the electric vehicle craze, despite the fact that the Nissan Leaf was one of the OG and absolutely ugliest stereotypes of an electric vehicle you've ever seen.
A true loser car, uglier than the Toyota Prius.
Anyhow, back to the merger.
A merger could result in a behemoth worth more than $50 billion based on the market capitalization of all three automakers. Together, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi would gain scale to compete with Toyota Motor Corp. and with Germany's Volkswagen AG. Toyota has technology partnerships with Japan's Mazda Motor Corp. and Subaru Corp.
Even after a merger Toyota, which rolled out 11.5 million vehicles in 2023, would remain the leading Japanese automaker. If they join, the three smaller companies would make about 8 million vehicles. In 2023, Honda made 4 million and Nissan produced 3.4 million. Mitsubishi Motors made just over 1 million.
Hopefully Nissan learns from Honda how to make a quality vehicle, and not the other way around.
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