Honda, Nissan End Merger Talks
Discussions of a merger that would have combined Japanese automakers Honda, Nissan and possibly Mitsubishi have formally ended, the companies announced.
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe and Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida shared the news in separate press conferences after sharing the stage with Mitsubishi President and CEO Takao Kato at a staged event in Tokyo in December.
At that time, the executives appeared to agree they would have to join forces — forming the world’s third-biggest automaker — in order to remain competitive.
“The rise of Chinese automakers and new players has changed the car industry quite a lot,” Mibe said in December. “We have to build up capabilities to fight with them by 2030, otherwise we’ll be beaten.”
Instead, talks broke down over a revised plan that would have given Honda decision-making power to speed integration.
“We anticipated that our proposal of share exchanges would be quite a difficult decision for Nissan, and we considered [the] possibility that the agreement might be withdrawn,” Mibe said today.
