TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda were expected to announce Monday that they are in talks on a merger that would catapult them to No. 3 in a global industry undergoing tectonic shifts as it transitions away from reliance on fossil fuels while facing intensifying competition from Chinese rivals.
The two companies, and smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors, said their top executives would hold a news conference later in the day. Local media including Kyodo News Service and broadcaster NHK said the companies’ boards had held meetings and top company executives had informed relevant government ministries that they plan to have details finalized by June.
News of a possible merger surfaced earlier this month, with unconfirmed reports saying that the talks on closer collaboration partly were driven by aspirations of Taiwan iPhone maker Foxconn to tie up with Nissan, which has an alliance with Renault SA of France and Mitsubishi.
A merger could result in a behemoth worth more than $50 billion based on the market capitalization of all three automakers. Together, Honda and the Nissan alliance with Renault SA of France and smaller automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. would gain scale to compete with Toyota Motor Corp. and with Germany’s Volkswagen AG. Toyota has technology partnerships with Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp. and Subaru Corp.
Even after a merger Toyota, which rolled out 11.5 million vehicles in 2023, would remain the leading Japanese automaker. If they join, the three smaller companies would make about 8 million vehicles. In 2023, Honda made 4 million and Nissan produced 3.4 million. Mitsubishi Motors made just over 1 million.
Honda, Japan’s second-largest automaker, is widely viewed as the only likely Japanese partner able to effect a rescue of Nissan, which has struggled following a scandal that began with the arrest of its former chairman Carlos Ghosn in late 2018 on charges of fraud and misuse of company assets, allegations that he denies. He eventually was released on bail and fled to Lebanon.
Speaking Monday to reporters in Tokyo via a video link, Ghosn derided the planned merger as a “desperate move.”
Japanese automakers have lagged behind their big rivals in electric vehicles and are trying to cut costs and make up for lost time.
Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi announced in August that they would share components for electric vehicles like batteries and jointly research software for autonomous driving to adapt better to dramatic changes centered around electrification, following a preliminary agreement in March.