Japan’s Honda and Nissan are said to begin merger talks

Detroit – Japanese car manufacturers Nissan Motor And Honda Motor It is said to be planning to enter merger talks to better compete in the fast-changing global automotive industry, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Honda and Nissan are considering working under a holding company and will soon sign a memorandum of understanding, according to reports. They eventually want to bring in Mitsubishi Motors, where Nissan is the top shareholder with a 24% stake under the holding company..

According to Nikkei, the combined Nissan-Honda-Mitsubishi enterprise will equate to annual sales of more than 8 million vehicles. That would put the company among the world’s largest automakers, but still below Japanese automakers Toyota Motor11.2 million in 2023, as well as the German automaker Volkswagenwhich reported sales of 9.2 million vehicles last year.

In similar statements, Honda and Nissan did not confirm or deny the report: “The reported content is not published by our company,” Honda said. “As announced in March this year, Honda and Nissan are exploring various possibilities for future collaboration, leveraging each other’s strengths. We will communicate any updates to our stakeholders in due course.”

The merger was reported earlier this year after the two Japanese automakers entered into a strategic partnership with shared automotive components and software.

Such a tie-up would be the biggest automotive industry merger since Fiat Chrysler joined France-based PSA Groupe. Stellantis In January 2021.

Automotive consultants and other experts have recently called for increased mergers and acquisitions to share costs and better compete against fast-expanding Chinese automakers as well as U.S. all-electric vehicle leaders. Tesla.

Honda’s US-traded shares closed up about 1% on Tuesday. Over-the-counter Nissan sharesThat jumped more than 11%, in the middle of a restructuring.