Towards a Honda/Nissan merger to overthrow the Tesla and BYD tandem ?

© Honda

It is the Japanese magazine Nikkei that reveals this information, the two Japanese automobile giants, Honda and Nissan, are reportedly in negotiations with a view to a historic association to say the least. The objective of the two groups would obviously be to not be left behind by the competition on the electric car market, and it would seem that a certain Foxconn is also on the starting blocks.

Honda and Nissan (and Foxconn) hand in hand for the electric market ?

Indeed, while the electric car continues to gradually gain market share around the world, some territories are still struggling to catch the bandwagon. This is the case in Japan, since of the 14 million electric vehicles sold last year, no less than 95% of them were manufactured in China, Europe or the United States. An unacceptable finding for Japanese manufacturers.

Honda and Nissan have also reportedly agreed to create a future holding company, which would allow the two groups to pool their respective technological resources, with the aim of (quickly) making a name for themselves on the electric market. Let us recall that Nissan is already part of an alliance with Renault (and Mitsubishi), but that the manufacturer nevertheless retains a certain form of autonomy in its strategy.

On the Honda side, just like Nissan, has long bet on hybrid-type engines, which explains the delay accumulated compared to other players in the market, starting with the American Tesla of course, but also the Chinese giant BYD. Let us recall that Nissan is experiencing serious difficulties in the United States in particular, with sales that have fallen by 26.3% over the last decade, not to mention the 45% drop on the Infiniti side.

Already last March, Nissan mentioned a rapprochement with its compatriot Honda. The collaboration between the two Japanese car manufacturers then focused on the joint purchase of batteries, as well as the design and development of a shared platform.

Finally, according to the media Bloomberg, another player, this time Taiwanese, has reportedly expressed interest in this future Nissan/Honda partnership, namely Foxconn, which is notably behind our iPhones. It remains to be seen whether and when this alliance will actually be effective, and how the two Japanese automobile giants will manage to make up for lost time.

Let us recall that Honda has already entered the electric market, notably with its small Honda e. while Nissan offers the Leaf, but also the Ariya crossover.

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