A new report indicates that Honda and Nissan are now gearing up to negotiate a possible merger. The merger would help the two companies compete in the EV space against rival electric vehicle companies like Tesla and rapidly growing Chinese EV companies. The merger may also include a third Japanese automaker, Mitsubishi, in the future.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida left, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe right
Per a report from Bloomberg, which cites Nikkei, both auto companies are now expected to sign a memorandum of understanding to discuss shared equity stakes in a new holding company.
News of Honda and Nissan’s collaboration on EV development has been ongoing for months now, with the two companies initially announcing a memorandum of understanding on joint EV development this past March. In August, Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi confirmed a joint EV development effort.
“The automobile industry is in a period of transformation said to occur once in a century,” said Honda President and Representative Executive Officer Toshihiro Mibe in August. “We expect that the combination of technologies and knowledge cultivated by Nissan and Honda, as well as the strength and experience of Mitsubishi Motors, will enable us to more quickly resolve various issues related to electrification and intelligence on a global scale, and help lead societal reforms as a top runner.”
Nissan and Honda are now in the process of developing a new software operating system, with plans to release the system sometime after 2027.
These joint development efforts will enable the Japanese automakers to more effectively compete with EV leader Tesla, as well as emerging Chinese rivals, with the goal of reducing costs and regaining momentum in the global EV race.
Honda and GM previously announced plans to offer a series of new, more-affordable EV models around the 2027 timeframe via GM’s Ultium battery technology, once again with the goal of cutting costs, targeting a base price below $30,000. In October of 2023, the two automakers announced that they had canceled those plans.
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I don’t know why, but feels like every big decision made by Honda lately (post GM partnership dissolution) has been against their will. Almost like the Japanese government is having the company clean up the messes of other companies to ensure that Japanese manufacturing/ IP doesn’t fall under foreign ownership or go under.
Honda doesn’t really seem poised to gain anything from this partnership.
The Honda + GM partnership seemed pretty complimentary in that Honda really excels in the areas that GM has not put much effort in (sedans), whereas GM excels on the truck/SUV front. Obviously there is overlap in the SUV market on paper, but I’d be curious to know how much cross shopping is really being done between the two.
Honda doesn’t seem to get much out of this Nissan arrangement, except for vehicle sales volume.
Honda is in real trouble as the world’s largest engine manufacturer with declining global ICE sales as well as the rapid rise of electric bikes/lawn mowers, etc, but at least they have a reputation for quality. Nissan is basically a sinking ship – this feels forced with almost no upside for Honda. Becoming Stellantis won’t fix them. Unfortunately, there will be many consolidations/mergers on the horizon as legacy automakers try to survive while losing ground rapidly to Chinese automakers. The Chinese market matters now with 30+ million annual units accounting for over a third of all vehicles sold in the world. For perspective, the combined markets of the US + EU + Japan (these markets peaked before 2019) are roughly numerically equal to the Chinese market. Therefore, Chinese market share is very meaningful to the bottom line and most legacy automakers are losing their @sses including Honda (-46% YoY, 823K thru Nov) and Nissan (-27% YoY, 527k thru Nov). Mitsubishi, recently pulled out of China due to sales collapse. Its going to get ugly and VW will likely be the first major domino to fall. BYD already has a market cap of 833B (and 57B in debt) vs Toyota at 275B (and 241B in debt) and has surpassed Honda and Nissan in global sales this year and will surpass Ford in 2025 and GM and Stellantis by 2026. I expect them to surpass Hyundai/Kia and VWAG soon after and Toyota by 2030. All of these companies sold their souls for short term profits and will pay the price as the Chinese have collectively set out to play the long game and conquer the world. We’ll see how impactful tariffs will be, but the big automakers in China don’t need expansion in the EU/US for growth at this point as they are displacing legacy automakers in the Chinese market culminating in a collapse in profits and reduced economies of scale for legacy OEMs. Buckle up.
The sad part is not only will those automakers pay the price. We all as humans meant to live with personal liberties and freedoms will pay the price too. The global order of democracy will fall and the new order of authoritarianism will rise. And we have no one but ourselves to blame for culminating it. People in places like the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia who are falling over with sparkling eyes over the state owned or party run companies like BYD will soon swallow their hopes of a new order savior when they realize they have cameras pointing at their house and every comment of dissent they have is monitored. And if you don’t think they been influencing our lives now, well let me present you with that sample of influences. Internet censorship, COVID lockdowns and attempts at forced vaccinations, the governor of California brown nosing to BYD, Olympic Organization shooting down Chinese athlete doping claims, just to name a few.
So if I were you, start prepping for a dystopian totalitarian future and armor up because winter is coming and freedom will become a precious commodity. And it ain’t coming from the Covenant.
BS! All of it. The CHIna government gave their CHIna companies 260 billion to develop EVs. GMA had an article about it. This was coupled with the stealing of IP has given them a competitive advantage. BYD is in a joint venture with Benz.
Since CHIna broke all international trade rules, they should not be able to easily import that junk into other countries. I respect the decisions of the US, EU, and Canada to keep that crap out.
BYD Company has a market cap or net worth of $108.75 billion as of December 18, 2024. Its market cap has increased by 24.98% in one year.
This is the market cap by year for BYD. No idea where you came up with 833 billion
Year Marketcap Change
2024 $108.67 B 34.56%
2023 $80.76 B -13.98%
2022 $93.89 B -23.34%
2021 $122.49 B 56.97%
2020 $78.03 B 360.54%
2019 $16.94 B
They will rebrand the frontier and probably make compact truck .
I’m happy that Mitsubishi is included because they always seem to get the short end of the stick. BUT, Nissan’s biggest problem, in the US, is that Carlos Ghosn established Nissan as a lower-price Japanese option and sales volumes soared. Following his departure, prices rose, a lot, and sales tanked. What will happen with high-priced Honda on board?
Nissans were always less expensive than Toyota and Honda. But Nissans quality and reliability was on par with Honda (not quite like Toyota but Honda yes comparable). I liked to think of them as the Hyundais of the 90s. How Hyundai today is well built and value packed option is how Nissan was back then. I grew up in a Nissan family and our 96 and 2000 Pathfinders were tanks. We never had any issues with them. My uncle had a hardbody truck, later Frontier and those were tanks. My aunt had a Stanza, later a 98 Sentra, and my other aunt a 2000 Altima. And Infiniti, while it paled compared to Lexus they had a potential lineup with an LS comparable Q45 sedan or like I call it (Japanese land yacht). Nobody else made a car that was as land yachty and as reliable as the LS at the time except Infiniti. It wasn’t until Genesis with their Korean landyacht (the G90) that compared to the legendary LS king of reliability.
Once Ghosn came into the picture the brand was practically s*** on, They pushed their cars over to CVTs, crappy Jatco ones at that, their styling became off-putting going from a classic squared off Japanese car look to oddball bubbles and in many cases bland looking vehicles. Their reliability went to s***, and to make matters worse, Ghosn showed zero interest in Infinity going so far to suggest to Johann deNyschen he is more than welcome to kill off the brand. As a Nissan raised car guy, I have much animosity towards Ghosn for really ruining the brand.
How many old Hyundais do you see on the road? I have felt for the past 40 years that Toyoda is above most others and Honda is mediocrity in terms of product and quality. Nissan to me is similar to the old Chrysler. Always playing catch-up and sometimes has a good model and then a few turds.
I see plenty of 10 and 20 year old Hyundais (and KIAs) around. My 96 Accent had 120k miles when I bought it new and it stuck with me throughout my college years. And that is after my negligent uncle owned it for 8 years and never did the oil changes. I had to get the engine flushed from sludge, timing belt and tune up done, and new catalytic converter on it and after that it ran like a new car for 5 years of college I had it. Yes, it was a cheapy little car but for how cheapy a car it was she lasted years of neglect and lived though years of care under me. The car ran so good I had compliments from my college friends who thought the car was newer. And that little car changed my opinion of the Korean brands. My biggest regret was trading it in for a then new 2009 Suzuki SX4 which was an unreliable pile of s***.
As for Toyota, yes. I agree. As much as I loved that little Accent it still holds only second place to my current workhorse, 2016 tank of a Rav4. But that car was purchased new and meticulously cared for since day one as opposed to my Hyundai. My XT5 is still too new to gauge but so far 15k miles in and no mechanical or electrical issues so far (knocks on the rosewood trim on the dash).
We see a lot of Hyundai and Kia models here but they are either new or dead by 10 years. They give you a lower cost and features but longevity with little work is not one of them.
Tune into the car Wizard as he has model after model of the Hyundai and Kia that is worthless after 100K miles.
My buddy makes a good living replacing Hyundai engines if they can find a good replacement. Often the car is not worth the change.
KIA also means killed in action.
That cheese eating, wine drinking, surrender monkey of a French man destroyed Nissan.
hope both goes bankrupt….
Interesting but it would make sense, even If Honda either boosts certain models in Nissan’s lineup or desolve Nissan and take the Z car and truck line for themselves ..
This is an example of just how bad things are. Mitsubishi and Nissan have hit the Iceberg.
Honda is still ok but they need to increase market share. Taking these two mfgs will keep Honda independent in foreign markets. GM only helped with products not market share.
Things will get worse yet for sone mfgs. GM is in a good spot with ICE and EV and can partner with others selling and building technology.
I would argue the third manufacturer (i.e. Mitsubishi) will have no choice but to join considering their latest model (Outlander) is essentially a Nissan Rogue and have practically become a subsidiary of Nissan. Mitsubishi on its own won’t last much longer.
Does this mean Honda’s are going to start looking ugly?
What about that “great looking” Honda truck that looks like an El Camino was “putting it to” an Accord?
Have saw Army suppositories that look better that truck.
The frontier is soild truck so i expect Honda make truck from the v6
Remember when we used to talk about the new AMERICAN cars?. I have numerous 70s Caddys, a few Lincolns. And I have 3 x Nissan 300 ZXs along with 2 x Toyota Celicas. Good stuff is always good stuff. But remember when America made the best cars. ???
Remember that you do not drive a Lincoln down the road – you point it like a boat ~ just floats.
Though, being a Rabbi, we are required by law to drive Cadillac cars.
This is a lose lose situation for Honda. Why hook your wagon to a team like Nissan and the Rice Burning Zero Manufacturer? Honda cannot pull these two dead mules out of the ditch.
Always thought that GM and Honda teaming up would be a superb combination.
The goal of Honda is to remain independent. To do that they need more market share and Nissan supplies this. But if not handled properly it can make things even worse.
GM in no way wants more brands or models. They just got out from under that mess. They are working to be more of a tech company and development.
I would not be surprised to see auto makers do as the electronics industry has done. They design products and tech but have other MFG make the products for them.
Like the Apple phone. It is designed and developed by Apple. But Foxxconn makes most of the phones to Apples spec. Apple also shares, sells and buys tech. The Apple phones use Samsung screens for example. This model may be what we see at some point.
This would make GM smaller and more flexible free from the UAW and other issues. manufacturing is not an easy way to make money anymore unless you are gears to do it in a low cost environment.
They should throw Isuzu into the deal to cover the heavy commercial truck and construction equipment division.
I think Nissan already owns a Isuzu-type company (not sure the name)