According to a report by Japanese media Nikkei on December 17th, in response to competition from Tesla and other electric vehicle companies in China, Nissan and Honda are currently in talks regarding a merger to integrate their resources.
The Nikkei News reported that Nissan and Honda are considering establishing a holding company and operating both companies under their umbrella. In the future, Mitsubishi Motors may also be included under this holding company. Nissan is the largest shareholder of Mitsubishi Motors, holding 24% of the latter's shares.
The reporter from China Business Daily noticed that the current market value of Honda is 5.95 trillion yen (approximately 38.8 billion US dollars), and the market value of Nissan is 1.17 trillion yen (approximately 7.6 billion US dollars). If the merger of the two becomes a reality, this cooperative transaction could become the largest deal in the automotive industry since Fiat Chrysler and PSA merged to form Stellantis for $52 billion in 2021.
It is worth noting that if Nissan, Honda, and Mitsubishi integrate, this new automotive group may become the world's third-largest automaker, with annual sales exceeding 8 million vehicles after the merger. In Japan, this new automotive group will also compete with Toyota Motor Group.
As of now, Nissan and Honda have not given a positive response to the merger rumors. Both sides only stated, "As announced in March this year, Honda and Nissan are exploring various possibilities for future cooperation to leverage each other's strengths. We will inform shareholders of any latest developments at the appropriate time
The three companies have already established a cooperative foundation. In August of this year, Nissan, Honda, and Mitsubishi have held consultations and cooperation on the development of electrification technology and joint research on in car software.
Industry analysts say that the integration is expected to ensure that this new automotive group has huge development funds to counterattack in the wave of automotive electrification.