A Honda-Nissan-Mitsubishi group would become the world's third largest carmaker
- The Nissan group, which had approached the Honda group at the beginning of 2024 to collaborate in the electric vehicle, in order to compete more efficiently with the Chinese carmakers who are very advanced in this market, has decided to go further in this collaboration with a view to a merger of the two carmakers that would allow the creation of the third largest carmaker in the world (by integrating Mitsubishi, of which Nissan holds 24% of the capital) behind the Toyota and Volkswagen groups.
- The negotiations currently underway to achieve this merger follow only a few weeks after Nissan's announcement concerning the cutting of 9,000 positions in its global workforce and the reduction of 20% of its production capacity. This is the reason why this merger project between Honda and Nissan seems to be an act of rescue of Nissan by Honda, which the president of Honda denies. The fact remains that this merger project could put a definitive end to the partnership that still exists between Nissan and Renault.
- The two Japanese carmakers are not complementary in that their vehicle range is relatively similar and their main markets are the same (Japan, USA, China). It seems obvious that neither Honda nor Nissan will abandon one of these markets in favour of its partner. But we also observe that both carmakers are losing ground on the Chinese market, as on the European market. It is therefore time to join forces to negotiate the shift to electric, an area in which they are still almost absent and which is dominated today by the American Tesla (16th largest carmaker in the world) and the Chinese BYD (8th largest carmaker in the world), not to mention the other Chinese carmakers that are progressing rapidly. Honda and Nissan wish to conclude a definitive agreement by June 2025 with a view to creating a single holding company that would be joined by Mitsubishi.