The Honda-Nissan merger guided by the urgency of committing to electricity and industrial sovereignty

Nissan vehicle assembly plant, in Kawachi-gun (Japan), in October 2021. MAKI SHIRAKI/REUTERS “Hossan”, “Nipponda” or even “Ninda”. Since the announcement of a possible merger between the Japanese manufacturers Honda and Nissan on Tuesday, December 17, Internet users have been having fun finding a name for the new entity. Negotiations could begin on Monday, December 23, giving birth to the third manufacturer on the planet after Toyota and Volkswagen. This project is part of a rapidly changing global automobile market, where Chinese manufacturers such as BYD and the American Tesla dominate the electric car market. “We view cooperation between companies positively in order to strengthen their competitiveness,” declared Friday, December 20, the Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Yoji Muto, with the government supporting the project also for reasons of industrial sovereignty. Created in 1948 by Soichiro Honda, Honda first manufactured motorcycles before moving into four-wheeled vehicles. In 2023, the group will sell 3.98 million vehicles. In accordance with the founder’s wishes, Honda has always worked alone. Between April and September, its operating profit increased by 7% year-on-year. But if earnings in the motorcycle sector increased by 29% to 325.8 billion yen (2 billion euros), those of cars fell by 14% to reach 258 billion yen. This activity suffered from higher than expected costs linked to purchasing aid in the United States and a collapse in sales in China. You have 65.04% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.



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