The boss of Nissan, who spoke of an alliance with Honda at the start of the year, admitted that he “couldn’t win this race by keeping a traditional approach”. The “race” in question is none other than the rise of numerous Chinese brands focused on electric vehicles, the domination of Tesla or even the difficulty of competing with national competitor Toyota on a global level. Concerning the “traditional” approach, the general manager of Nissan was obviously thinking of remaining alone, without a strong partnership. However, Nissan is still in the Alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi, but the Losange has sold some of its shares in Nissan, which had nevertheless wanted its independence for a long time. And in a market that has finally become very unstable and competitive, the Japanese brand realizes that it is perhaps better to team up than to evolve alone. This is what will probably explain the potential new major merger in the automotive world, announced by our colleagues at the Nikkei.
Nissan and Honda hand in hand
Are we moving towards absolute polarization in the automotive world, with engines, bodies and technologies shared and standardized almost everywhere? It’s true that sprawling giants like Volkswagen, Stellantis and even Geely have led the way in this global leveling of the industry.
Nissan and Honda would enter the negotiation phase with the creation of a holding company shared between the two brands. For the Japanese manufacturers, it will also be a matter of having more weight with two – or three, with Mitsubishi majority owned by Nissan – in order to better negotiate with suppliers and to be, ultimately, more competitive in terms of pricing. Remember that an agreement between the two had already been sealed at the start of the year in the field of electric vehicles. In the event of a merger, Nissan/Honda would account for more than 7 million annual global sales. But if we also include Mitsubishi, the three would quite simply become… the world’s leading group, ahead of Toyota!
Nissan in the tough
For Nissan, there is an urgent need to act. The brand has lost big in China and must now face a delicate restructuring situation to reduce its excessively large production capacities. In the United States, Nissan’s main market, the context is no better, since there is a supply problem: Nissan does not have any hybrids to offer to Americans, who are increasingly in demand. Two major fires to put out, an additional firefighter would not be too much, especially since Honda has mastered non-rechargeable hybridization very well. Note that the recovery mission in Uncle Sam’s country will be carried out by a Frenchman, a defector from Stellantis: Christian Meunier, who was at the head of Jeep. Finally, let us point out that Renault claims to have “no information” concerning this merger or merger project, while the Losange still has a significant share in Nissan.
