Summary
Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi have confirmed merger talks to form the world’s third-largest carmaker by annual sales, aiming to tackle challenges from Chinese competition and the shift to electric vehicles.
The proposed merger, through a joint holding company, seeks to combine resources as Japan’s automakers struggle with declining sales and costly EV transitions, lagging behind leaders like Toyota and Chinese rivals BYD.
Nissan’s former CEO Carlos Ghosn criticized the plan, citing overlapping operations, while executives called it a pivotal move amid unprecedented industry changes. Mitsubishi will decide on joining by January’s end.
Japan had huge success with hybrid cars and this caused them to put to many eggs in one basket and delay development of electric vehicles.
Honda never really made advanced hybrids either and they absolutely chose to drag their feet on EVs, they pushed hydrogen way too hard and even that always felt like a marketing stunt.