Honda/Nissan merger dead.
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Well. That didn’t last long…
The merger between Nissan and Honda seems to have died before it even happened. It all felt very weird anyway and to many, felt orchestrated by the Japanese government as a way to save Nissan. It actually made zero sense for Honda who really didn’t have anything to gain from this, except becoming the world’s 3rd largest car manufacturer.
So what now… Nissan seems to be a terrible shape according to them.
Toyota had already mentioned earlier they were never approached by Nissan. And I really don’t think they would be interested. Would Mazda or Subaru be into a merger with Nissan? but again, why?
To me, the most logical answer would be a Chinese company. As they would actually gain a lot from merging or even acquiring Nissan. They would gain a path into the North American market. In a big way. Nissan has 3 factories in the US so far, in Tennessee and Mississippi. They also have a factory in England. Just these alone would be very attractive to Chinese brands.
The current Nissan lineup isn’t very new. Sure, we just saw a new Armada and Murano. And a new Leaf is around the corner. But it seems the rest of the lineup could use some new models. They are also very, very late with EVs. While a new Leaf is finally coming out soon, who knows what’s next? There’s been rumors of a new EV SUV and Sedan for both Nisan and Infiniti, for years now. And yet, nothing.
A Chinese brand could basically sell their new models under the Nissan name in the US and Europe. Because of European tariffs, many Chinese manufacturers are very interested in building cars in Europe.
Even better in the US if they could even be sold under the Nissan brand and also be built locally.
BYD, Geely, Nio, and many others are just waiting to find a way to sell cars over here. Last year, a new poll showed that 76% of Americans under 40 would consider buying a vehicle from a Chinese brand. That number might even be higher when considering a “Chinese vehicle from a Japanese brand, made in the US”.
More and more American and European Youtubers are traveling to China to test drive these new Chinese EVs. And their reviews are mostly positive.
I think it’s just a matter of time. As for Nissan, I wish them luck…
I think its pretty clear that Nissan CEO Uchida didn’t present an attractive case to Honda. The reorganization of execs was more like a musical chairs switch-up instead of the shake-up that needed to happen. That isn’t very confidence inspiring. Second, they wanted to be autonomous but gain all the advantages of money, manufacturing and technology from Honda. Seriously, what are these people smoking? Honda wasnted assurances that they weren’t just going to go into round 2 of Take The Money and Fail. Nissan has let the Altima and Rogue, its two largest sales leaders in the US, stagnate. But thank goodness they updated the low take rate Murano and Armada. I mean, if you can sell 50,000 of those, versus 300,000 of the other two while keeping people working and your factories open…. why not throw all that out the window for the low volume products. Man, Nissan has terrible leadership.