Makoto Uchida, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Company, and Toshihiro Mebe, President and CEO of Honda Motor Company, attend their joint press conference in Tokyo, Japan on March 15, 2024.
Kyodo | Via Reuters
Detroit – Japanese automakers Nissan Motor and Honda Motor The Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported on Tuesday that the company plans to enter negotiations for a merger in order to better compete in the rapidly changing global auto industry.
Honda and Nissan are considering working within a holding company, and will soon sign a memorandum of understanding, according to the report. They are also looking to bring Mitsubishi Motors, of which Nissan is the largest shareholder with a 24% stake, into the holding company.
According to Nikkei, the joint venture between Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi will equate to sales of more than 8 million vehicles annually. This would place the company among the largest automakers in the world, but it is still less than its Japanese counterpart toyota motorat 11.2 million in 2023, as well as the German automaker VolkswagenLast year, it announced sales of 9.2 million cars.
In similar statements, Honda and Nissan did not confirm or deny the report, and Honda said: “Our company did not publish the aforementioned content.” “As announced in March this year, Honda and Nissan are exploring various possibilities for future cooperation, leveraging each other's strengths. We will inform our stakeholders of any updates in due course.”
The merger report comes after the two Japanese automakers entered into a strategic partnership earlier this year on shared vehicle components and software.
Such a tie-up would be the largest auto industry merger since Fiat Chrysler joined France-based PSA Groupe to form Stellantis In January 2021.
Automotive consultants and other experts have recently called for increased mergers and acquisitions to share costs and better compete against rapidly expanding Chinese automakers as well as the American leader in all-electric vehicles. Tesla.
Honda shares traded in the United States closed up about 1% on Tuesday. over the counter Nissan shareswhich is in the middle of a restructuring process, jumped more than 11%.
