Summary
Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi have confirmed merger talks to form the world’s third-largest carmaker by annual sales, aiming to tackle challenges from Chinese competition and the shift to electric vehicles.
The proposed merger, through a joint holding company, seeks to combine resources as Japan’s automakers struggle with declining sales and costly EV transitions, lagging behind leaders like Toyota and Chinese rivals BYD.
Nissan’s former CEO Carlos Ghosn criticized the plan, citing overlapping operations, while executives called it a pivotal move amid unprecedented industry changes. Mitsubishi will decide on joining by January’s end.
I’m not sure what Honda gains from this other than production capacity. I suppose that depends on how closely merged the companies will be – they may only share platforms rather than go full badge engineering.
2 fewer Japanese car companies to compete with.
Hondas competition has always been Toyota. Now it can be “Toyota vs. Honda” instead of “Toyota vs. Honda vs. Mitsubishi vs. Nissan”