Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi are moving forward with a merger that will create the third-largest automaker in the world behind Toyota and Volkswagen. It remains to be seen what kind of impact this will have on the global auto industry at large, but analysts agree that a big motivator for the merger isn’t just Nissan’s financial woes. It’s a coordinated effort to counter a burgeoning Chinese auto industry that’s rapidly becoming more competitive on the world stage.
Assuming the merger is completed in 2025, Honda/Nissan will become a bigger car company than GM. So, what does that mean for GM and Honda’s ongoing collaborations?
“Honda does not have direct ties with Renault, and its discussions with Nissan do not interfere with Nissan’s ongoing partnership agreements. Additionally, Honda’s collaborations with General Motors remain unaffected,” Honda President and Chief Executive Officer Toshihiro Mibe said, according to Autocar.
This statement comes not too long after GM and Honda canceled plans to co-develop affordable EVs, a decision that came down in October 2023. Also, Honda was supposed to handle the production of the Cruise Origin autonomous EV in Japan, but the Origin was scrapped, and Cruise is now dissolved.
So, Honda and GM collaborations were already pretty scaled back compared to a few years prior, even before talks of a merger with Nissan and Mitsubishi got more serious.
The casual observer might not have noticed, but GM has been collaborating with Honda in one form or another for over 30 years. One unique detail about this ongoing partnership is that there’s never been an exchange of corporate equity. It all started when Honda marketed its first SUV, the 1994 Honda Passport, as a rebadged Isuzu Rodeo. At the time, GM had a controlling interest in Isuzu. The Acura SLX would be the luxury brand’s first SUV, a rebadged Isuzu Trooper, and Honda let Isuzu market the first-generation Honda Odyssey as the Isuzu Oasis.
When GM’s troublesome Vauxhall-built V6 in the 1990s and 2000s needed to be replaced due to overwhelming warranty costs, Honda came to the rescue with its revered J35 V6 (renamed the L66 by GM), which saw duty as the optional engine in the Saturn Vue. More recently, Honda has been marketing the Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX electric crossovers, both of which are underpinned by GM’s BEV3 platform.
The Nissan merger makes it hard to predict the next phase of potential GM/Honda collaborations, but the global automotive industry will certainly be interesting to watch over the next few years.
Comments
I anticipate many more mergers and acquisitions similar to what happened in the early 20th century (Dodge and Chevrolet come to mind). It makes sense that Honda wishes to grow domestically and retool, but Nissan and Mitsubishi are not doing well. Does Honda really want to take on the challenge of fixing two struggling brands while it learns how to build EVs? That might be too ambitious.
BEV3 to the rescue!
For GM? It probably indeed won’t mean much. At first.
For Honda? When you’re looking at possibly existential foreign competition, the last thing you need is to take on somebody else’s problems and chain it all around your own neck! A quick study of industry history will prove this.
Japan needs to drop the American concept of “too big to fail”. Sometimes you need to let it go, versus delaying the inevitable (and making it worse).
I’m more interested in knowing what will happen to Acura and Infiniti. My guess Infiniti will get the axe but then the merger should try to move Acura to expand more and be on the level of Lexus.
Infiniti needs a couple of bread and butter cars.The Q50 got to old and never updated. Put a upgrade Civic as a replacement G line — and the Accord as an update Q40 —dump the QX50 — upgrade the new Passport to replace the QX60 —give Acura a QX80 copy.
Infiniti had bread and butter cars. They were the only ones that made a comparable Asian land yacht to go against the Lexus LS (the Q45). They killed it off when they should have kept it around as a low volume halo car to keep the brand image elevated.
The last generation of the Q45 was an absolute beauty. Like the LS it was rear wheel drive, V8, and was super comfortable, quiet, and easier to live with than the competing Euro luxury sedans of the time.
No other vehicle like it came out to compete against the LS until the Koreans stepped up with the Genesis G90. Acura had the RLX but the car was FWD, not as luxurious as the Q45 or LS, and had a weird setup where if you wanted AWD you were forced to get the hybrid model and pay significantly more for it. Never mind it having a V8. Honda has ever even made a V8 for a road vehicle and only made them for marine applications.
News to many, outside of the US, Honda isn’t in great shape either.
>>> If GM build beautiful cars, it has nothing to worry, because HONSANBISHI does uglier ones
Look this deal with Nissan and Mitsubishi is Japans version of automotive bailout out. I don’t think Honda wants it but for duty and country plus I expect Government funding they will do it. Hondas stated goal is to partner but still be independent. This is why the GM desl works for Honda.
Hondas is not failing but they need capital and more market dhare like most. EV programs are killing many companies as is the drop in China sales.
Now as for GM they are like Honda and really don’t want any mergers nor at this point do they need one.
They just cut the size of the company during their bail out the last thing they need is more divisions or product. The last thing they need is Dodge or Ram. Jeep is not even something in high demand now.
GM wants to develop technology and either partner like with Honda to build or share visits. They also would like to develop technology and either and license it or sell it.
Much like how GM in the past sold transmissions and AC units to Ferrari, Rolls, BMW and Jaguar.
But Ford, Dodge, Ram, and many other companies have nothing GM wants or needs other than their money if they want to buy tech.
I could see a partnership with Ford.
VW is already breaking down the. Any divisions they have, Bugatti was just sold off. I would not be surprised to see more sold.
It is tough out there as just look at the cheating on emissions several companies have done. They are desperate to meet regulations and still offer cars you want or can afford.
A patriotic effort from Honda to save Nissan facing a bankrupcy. A Japanese company lije Nissan must do everything to elude this shame. On the Honda side, they will get the EV technology from the Aryia, the pick up trucks they don’t actually produce. I’d say that they will shut some plants in the process and the name Nissan itself is in jeopardy.