Japan's Honda and Nissan to reportedly begin merger talks
Japan's Honda and Nissan to reportedly begin merger talks
Nissan and Honda plan to enter into negotiations for a merger to better compete in the rapidly changing automotive industry, the Nikkei newspaper reported.
That sounds like a disaster for Honda. Nissan doesn't hardly have anything to offer except supply/sales volume. Honda beats them on engine tech, transmission tech, chassis tech, basically everything. Honda has lots to lose by taking on their mess, and Nissan doesn't.
I don't know about in Japan, but in the US, Nissan has a sub-$30k EV with the Leaf and Honda does not. So that would be worth something to them considering California is trying to phase out ICE cars.
https://insideevs.com/news/744407/ev-california-gas-car-sales-ban-2035/
That's still only a single model that is <8% of Nissan's already abysmal US sales volume. Nissan's massive pile of garbage that fills up the rest of portfolio (and institutional problems behind the scenes) is absolutely NOT worth dealing with for the technology in a single model like that, even if it is "necessary" to offer to ensure compliance eith wishy washy regulatory soon-to-be's. They would be much better off clean-slating their own, EV tech is significantly easier to develop compared to new ICE designs and if anyone is capable of that, it's Honda.
I absolutely agree with you there. For consumer space this merger doesn't make sense for Honda. For Nissan share holder, this is fantastic.. Only thing I can think of is Nissan has some EV tech that Honda could use but that's quite the stretch. Nissan actually jumped into EV relatively early but they didn't iterate on it quickly enough to matter. Honda has been dragging their feet on EV and they both completely missed the boat on bridge tech offering like plug in hybrid. This merger isn't going to do anything to fix that.
Since Nissan is now a low end brand and Honda is moving more towards premium side perhaps being together would cover the market segments better. The merger absolutely does nothing for the high end market though.
The one thing that I don't know anything about is the commercial market domestically in Japan. Perhaps Nissan has good market share which Honda could gain from this merger. Maybe someone could chime in on this.
Public perception is also a factor. Even seeing collaborated cars like their EV Chevy thing takes away from Honda's perception of reliability.
no don't nissan my hondas :(
Honestly though….. I wouldn’t be against a Honda’d Nissan…….
*Except the electronics
There goes another dependable car, motorcycle and outboard manufacturer. Nissan is the Japanese Renault, or any of the Stellantis brands. I have owned 2 Nissans and a Honda. I'd buy a currrent Honda in a heartbeat. I won't touch a Nissan with a 10 ft pole.
Oh yay more whittling down of an already conglomerated industry surely this will be good for people
Japanese companies have a history of consolidating to be able to compete with foreign companies. This is in response to the sudden rise of Chinese companies and China replacing Japan as the top automotive exporter.
Do they though? Foreign companies are far more consolidated.
Nissan has been a dumpster fire for two decades. Honda should steer clear.
Nissan holds a majority stake with Mitsubishi. That actually might be worth something to Honda, and they also seem to be able to produce some cheap evs, like the leaf which Honda doesn't seem able to do currently.
On the other hand, maybe a merger will help them get their shit together and compete with Toyota.
They definitely need to pump the brakes on this potential merger.
GTR Type-R? 😳👉👈
With the current market we're more likely to see a Juke CRV 🤢
Maybe a Murano Pilot Cabriolet
V-Tec Mitsubishi lancer evo (because Nissan has a majority stake in Mitsubishi)? 👉👈
Nissan Z with Vtec?
🥺 👉👈
VTEC just kicked in yo
(Ancient meme time)
Edit: I miss my accord
I just want those Skyline R34s back
Guaranteed this just turns Honda into Nissan quality
They were on their way.
You don't go less and less and less and less displacement forever and not expect some hiccups. Their new engines have been less engine, more pressure-cooker.
Ain't like the old K and J engine bro-team that took the 2000's and 2010's.
I dunno. There are some very enthusiastic Honda fanboys that will be watching like a hawk.
This could just be Nissan reading the writing on the wall and choosing to do something about it before it's too late.
Honda still needs to rely on more than "nationalism" to sell their cars, unlike American brands.
Could Honda's interest be based on Nissan's frame-based trucks? I don't think Honda has any recent history in those markets.
Better tech for Mitsubishi will also be well received
RIP Mitsubishi motors. Went bankrupt and then got nissan'd into the void.
That's not true, they still exist in 2077
Bye bye Honda