Re porter of the interface| Less than two months after Honda and Nissan announced they would begin mer ger talks , reports have emer ged that plans to merge the two autom ak ers have changed once again .
W hether the mer ger goes well or not , there are many issues loom ing , such as the elect ri fication trans ition , fall ing sales in the Japanese market , and the development of different market strategi es around the world .
Nissan and Honda announced at their respective bo ards on February 13 that they had suspend ed talks on the mer ger and decided to hold separate press confer ences .
Nissan Japan told Inter face News that the two companies were schedu led to decide on the fe asi bility direction of the business integration at the end of January , but that discus sions on integration matters are ongo ing in the preparat ory committee .
" There fore , we plan to anno unce the direction of integration in mid - F ebru ary .
There will be no change in Nissan ' s current Japanese market strategy . " L ast December , Honda and Nissan announced the mer ger negoti ations , which are expected to be fina lized in June 202 5.
Media reports at the time high light ed the scale - up effect of the mer ger , with both of them becoming the world ' s third - lar gest automo tive group after the two al lian ces .
In 202 4, Honda was rank ed e igh th with 3. 87 million vehicles and Nissan was rank ed nin th with 3. 34 9, 000 vehicles , both of which were over tak en by BY D , and Ge ely was rank ed tent h .
The shift to elect ri fication has been slow , and both Honda and Nissan are fac ing fall ing sales and profit pressure as their share of the Japanese market sh rin ks .
G oku A oy ama , senior director of corpor ate rat ings in Asia Pacific at E izu Rat ings , told Inter face News that compared with the traditional automo tive industry character ized by traditional automo tive technology , Japanese electric car manufact urers are similar to science and technology companies character ized by innovation and growth .
" The mer ger of the two companies , and other al lian ces to some extent , may help to bridge the gap with Japanese electric car manufact urers " The general view within the industry is that the advantage that Nissan has focus ed on the development of pure electric vehicles has helped acceler ate Honda ' s elect ri fication model change , The scale and syn er gies of the two combin ed companies are believed to have the potential to out per form compet it ors in a new electric car race .
Mr . Shi Sh uai of Roland berg Global Partner similar ly said that the mer ger of the two companies will improve the integration speed in the short term and realize scale effects , but after the mer ger , the strength s and weak nesses of each other , how to adjust the technology Whatsapp , how to integr ate the supply chain , He said it was a complex question to finally realize mod eling , such as integrat ing the marketing ed ge and the route .
Not respond ing to different market su ita bility revol utions after consolid ation , and mer ely integrat ing the restruct uring of net financial and reso urce aspects may even be det r iment al to overall performance .
The mar sh al also belie ves that another notable issue of the mer ger is leadership .
Mer ger negoti ations between enter prises are not simple integration , but rather need to uni fy resources , systems and voice , and play a game of " go ing " and " sa ving . "
It is also a factor in Nissan ' s decision to termin ate the mer ger negoti ations reported recently .
According to several media out lets including the Nik kei , NH K and Reuters , there is a dis ag re ement in the way Nissan and Honda intend to merge management .
Honda has proposed a plan to acqu ire Nissan and become a wh ol ly own ed subsidi ary , but due to strong opposition from Nissan that it wants to maintain an equal relationship in the mer ger , it wants to take the lead in management and move forward with quick decisions such as improv ing its results .
The terms that Honda has negoti ated so far are for the under per form ing Nissan to come up with an ef ficient restruct uring and recovery plan .
Nissan said in November that it would cut 9 ,000 jobs worldwide and reduce global production capacity by 20 percent to improve the situation , but it is uncle ar whether it will meet expect ations of financial sta bility .
In the past few years , Nissan has been in a predic ament of prof its fall ing short of expect ations , sales fall ing , and future via bility has also been frequ ently mentioned .
If it ultim ately ref uses to merge with Honda , Nissan will face diffic ul ties in the short term .
According to the results of the first half of the year 2024 (April - Se ptember 2024), Nissan ' s global sales volume dropp ed by 1.6 percent from the same period last year to 1.5 96 million units , net profit dropp ed by 9 3. 5 percent to 19. 22 billion yen , and the target for 2024 was revis ed down ward from 3. 65 million units to 3.4 million units .
Nissan is str ugg ling to c ope with the challenge of independent brand s and new forces in the Japanese market , and sales in Japan fell 12. 2 percent to 69 6,000 vehicles last year , compared with the same period last year .
In another important U . S . market , it missed a development opportunity to sei ze the moment um of hybrid vehicle demand .
To solve the problem in the U . S . market , Nissan is trying to improve its product Whatsapp through reduc ing promo tional incenti ves (w hich are now increasing) and the launch of new hybrid vehicles , A oy ama said .
" Th ese measures are reasonable , but they can ' t change that we ' re la gging behind our compet it ors . "
The tari ffs impos ed by the United States on Mexico could also put significant pressure on Nissan , whose share of the Mex ican market last year was 17 percent .
If the mer ger negoti ations break down , Honda will be affected in the same way .
With the exception of Nissan , Honda will find it difficult to find the right partner to drive the scale consolid ation and elect ri fication trans ition .
Analy sts agree that Honda will maintain the status quo in the short term , but it could pose a challenge in the long term .
Honda ' s concern is prof ita bility , with the operating margin of the Honda Automo tive business in the first half of fiscal 2024 (April - Se ptember 202 4) at 3. 6 percent , well below the motor cycle segment ' s 18 percent .
Honda ' s global sales last year fell 5 percent to 3. 8 7000 units , down nearly 30 percent from its pe ak in 2019.
According to Standard Global fore cas ts , Honda ' s global sales will fall to a further 3. 73 million units in 202 5, and 3. 65 million in 202 6.
As for the Japanese market , which cannot be ignor ed by both companies , Mr . A oy ama said the challenges fac ing the two companies in Japan include sl ugg ish sales of con venti onal fuel - engine vehicles , a sh orta ge of attra ctive pure electric vehicles , intense competition and fall ing prices , and he belie ves there is no immedi ate solution for now .
Tok usai belie ves that if the mer ger negoti ations between the two parties are finally successful , new products may enter the Japanese market , but the new company that succe eds in the mer ger may not be able to save the dec Whatsapp in the Japanese market share of both parties .
Once the cooperation is termin ated , both sides need to continue to deal with the issue of their respective conver sion .
Com par ati vely speaking , compared with other foreign - fund ed enter prises in China , Volkswagen ' s loca lization transform ation in the Japanese market is further away , and a series of measures have been intensi fied , such as establ ishing a new Volkswagen An hui joint vent ure and cooper ating with Xia oping to develop vehicle models .
If Nissan and Honda are to survive in the Japanese market , they may need a more radical and radical transform ation , strateg ically and system atic ally .
In the medium and long term , Nissan and Honda still need to purs ue elect ri fication with all their might to improve their products and brand image .
Honda aims to sell only electric and fuel - cell vehicles glob ally by 204 0, and plans to increase its investment to 10 tr illion yen (abo ut 47 5. 7 billion yuan) by 2030.
The up front costs and sales los ses involved in developing pure electric vehicles are a huge bur den for companies , and seek ing cooperation al lian ces is a via ble way .
A oy ama belie ves that if the integration negoti ations do not progress , the next focus will be an all - ele ctric vehicle alliance between Honda and Nissan .
Release date: 2025-04-27 21:26:29
