Honda and Nissan to Merge?

The competitor is BYD and Toyota, and an overall shrinking car market.

Mergers are often fraught with evil so who knows what happens. But if there going to compete with BYD and the other Chinese companies they need to scale up EV drivetrains. EV drivetrains are a pure commodity. You can't have 20 different companies producing a commodity - the big players will thrash them, I can rattle off 20 industries where that has happened, and it doesn't take long.

EV's are an appliance.

Also, of all the Japanese companies Nissan and Honda don't overlap as much as most think - both in vehicle types and also countries where they are strong.

Nissan's trucks are very well regarded around the world. I worked with a guy who owned a large pistachio plantation in South Africa and the only trucks he would consider for it were Nissan. That's not even including the UD trucks - which apparently are no longer Nissan so I guess that doesn't count.
 
I don’t understand why Mitsu is holding out until Jan - not like they’d survive without Nissan or some other automotive co helping them out. Japanese govt and Japanese culture wouldn’t let a non Japanese organization buy out Mitsu anyways.

Merger makes sense - Honda wasn’t big enough and Nissan was in the tubes. Nissan does better with the smaller vehicles (like Nissan especially in developing countries) and trucks and Honda does the sedans and SUVs much better. Plus the open manufacturing capacity at Nissan and spread of development costs.

What I’m curious to see if how the Nissan and Jatco alliance works out through all of this. Nissan relies on Jatco but Honda has their own CVTs. I can see that duplication becoming an interesting conversation.
 
The Frontier is the only plus they would gain

Kill the Ridgeline and double badge the Frontier ...... it may also work for the Z

This from a US market point of view
 
It's entirely possible that both will continue make cars under their own badges, with shared tech and backend support/tech.

Does Infiniti die off? They're already collapsing those standalone dealerships in to the Nissan dealership.
 
Honda has a new vehicle called the Prologue and it's an all electric Chevy trailblazer with Honda badges. If these companies to merge it might be smart to do your homework before buying the Honda badge. They have a Civic hybrid that is for sale now too. The hybrid and EV market is really hot right now because everyone knows gasoline will not stay as low as it is right now.

I think 99.9999% of people buying a Honda Prologue know it's a Chevy Blazer EV in disguise. Heck, that's WHY I got one - I don't like Honda but I like Chevy (but I wanted Apple CarPlay). If it wasn't for it being a GM I would never have set foot in the Honda dealer.

They do NOT try to hide it... the VIN sticker says GM, the floor mats came in a GM bag, it says OnStar all over the place in the infotainment and the HondaLink app. And literally every single article or review on this vehicle on the internet mentions that it's a GM. Yet, somehow, sales a good. Maybe because it's a handsome looking "normal-ish" vehicle with the features people want from a brand that isn't associated with any drama. I have nothing against Elon/Tesla myself but plenty of people do and are either trading in their Teslas or simply not considering buying one anymore.

https://insideevs.com/news/739792/honda-prologue-october-2024-sales/

https://electrek.co/2024/12/19/hondas-prologue-already-third-best-selling-ev-us/

"The Honda Prologue has the third best-selling EV in the US last month, behind only the Tesla Model Y and Model 3. With over 25,000 models sold already this year, Honda’s electric SUV has been a surprise hit."
 
It's entirely possible that both will continue make cars under their own badges, with shared tech and backend support/tech.

This.
Would not surprise me to see a reworked Frontier with a Honda nameplate on it, or some other Hondas reworked and sold under the Nissan nameplate.
Much of the merger will play out in the infrastructure and engineering end of things.
I can't imagine both dealer networks not being maintained, however.
From the outside, it will look much like the Renault/Nissan merger did.
 
As someone who loves Honda and isn't a huge fan of Nissan, I can't say I'm thrilled with the idea.

The only thing that might be cool to come out of it is a Honda badged body-on-frame truck or SUV.
 
How many Ridgelines does Honda sell? They seem more and more and more rare.
All I know is Honda does not discount the Ridgeline and they have solid resale values.

A friend recently purchased a Chevy Colorado. he wanted a Ridgeline, but the Colorado was significantly lower priced. .

Honda adding a frame based truck that can tow I suspect would be a home run for Honda. And Honda restarting Nissan's full size truck line with Honda engineered full size truck would be a game changer for Honda, allowing Honda to compete with Toyota in every U.S. Market segment.

Times change, but it is reported full size trucks have the highest gross and net margins of all vehicles sold in the U.S.--- something Honda currently can't participate in.
 
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As someone who loves Honda and isn't a huge fan of Nissan, I can't say I'm thrilled with the idea.

The only thing that might be cool to come out of it is a Honda badged body-on-frame truck or SUV.
Someone would bail out Nissan. They have good share in countries where others (like Honda) do not. Money is easy to get. In unit volume there almost as big as Honda. They play in lots of niche markets. Nissan still owns a good piece of Mitsubishi and Renault - presumably they could liquidate that and live longer also.

So you end up with Nissan holding some share, and Honda holding on to some share, and BYD, Toyota, and a handful of others flooding the market while the total volume shrinks.

Your already seeing the pain with VW.

BMW has the luxury performance market. Mercedes has the Global luxury market. GM and Ford will belly up to the government trough. So will H/K - just different government.

Stelantis - hard to say, they have very little debt for a car company.

The rest are out in the cold looking in. Honda, Nissan, VW, Mits, Renault, Suzuki? Market can no longer support them all.

I think its a good business move. The question after is what cars do we end up with?
 
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