Nissan Reportedly Cancels Honda Merger, Seeks New Partners

KatadataOTO – Nissan is reportedly looking for a new partner after merger talks with Honda reached a dead end. The company has been trying to recover its condition through various means.

Merging with another manufacturer like Honda is one of the ways. This move even has the potential to make them the third-largest automotive company in the world.

Unfortunately, after being postponed, the merger idea faced various obstacles. Rumors of the plan's cancellation even grew louder after a meeting between Makoto Uchida, CEO of Nissan, and Toshihiro Mibe, CEO of Honda, some time ago.

Makoto Uchida revealed that he wanted to end the discussion after Honda proposed making Nissan a subsidiary. Previously, the merger was intended to make them equal companies.

Photo : KatadataOTO

Reported by Reuters, Nissan immediately planned to collaborate with new partners, including technology companies.

This is considered an interesting move because electric vehicles are very closely related to the development of software technology.

Foxconn from Taiwan is reportedly the company being approached by Nissan to become a partner. Its positive track record is considered an added value.

Currently, they produce Apple's iPhone and are trying to expand their business into electric vehicles. They even made an offer to Nissan, but it was rejected in December 2024.

It was previously reported that Nissan and Honda were actually planning to merge. The initial agreement was that the two companies would establish a holding company and then share technology and platforms to make vehicle development more competitive.

But a number of challenges arose after Renault, a Nissan shareholder, revealed it wanted to increase its share value before the merger took place.

Photo : Honda

Pressure also came from Honda after they asked Nissan to buy back the shares owned by Renault.

The news of the merger's cancellation caused Nissan's shares to immediately drop by four percent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Conversely, Honda's shares remained stable and ended with a rise of more than eight percent.

This phenomenon was seen as a form of relief for investors because Honda was not merged to form a new company with Nissan or Mitsubishi.