The news of a potential Honda-Nissan merger, aka Nissonda, isn’t news to anyone who reads The Morning Dump. I’ve been calling for Nissan and Honda to merge since August. The rest of the world woke up to the possibility yesterday and I held off on writing about it because what was missing from those reports was a good explanation of why right now.
This morning we got a little insight into the other company that was looking to buy the Nissan and why that might scare the crap out of Honda. You know what scares the crap out of me? The lack of air traffic controllers. Perhaps I’ve just watched too much Breaking Bad.
Every year it was a requirement to go to the Detroit Auto Show if you wanted to know what was happening in the automotive world. Lately, that hasn’t been the case, but Detroit is making a real attempt to shift toward a more consumer-centric show. And, finally, a car movie made by some friends is now available on Amazon to watch.
No One Wants The Foxconn Guarding The Nissonda House
It’s been clear that Nissan has been in trouble for a while, never quite finding its footing after having its CEO Carlos Ghosn arrested and separating from Renault. Nissan has struggled in China, like most non-Chinese/non-Tesla automakers. The company’s products haven’t been particularly competitive in the United States, either. Like Stellantis, there’s a lot of value there, but it’s not clear how that value could be tapped.
The suspicion was that Nissan had roughly until the end of 2025 to get its act together, which involved the increasing likelihood of a Honda-Nissan merger. Japan has, effectively, three automaker groups: Toyota and its affiliates (Suzuki, Mazda, Subaru), Honda, and Nissan-Mitsubishi. If you combined Nissan, Honda, and Mitsubishi you still wouldn’t have an automaker as big as Toyota on its own by market cap, but you’d have something a little more competitive by size at least.
In this “Darwinian period” of the automotive world, as Carlos Tavares called it, maybe Honda is big enough to survive on its own, but it would be a lot easier if it could add some scale from a tie-up with Nissan-Mitsubishi. More importantly, the three companies could work together to try and battle a growing threat from Chinese automakers in China and, increasingly, everywhere else.
Elon Musk has said that the future is just going to be Tesla and a handful of Chinese automakers. Would he include Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (aka Foxconn) on that list? The Taiwanese mega global manufacturer makes about 40% of the world’s smartphones and now wants to build about 40% of the world’s electric cars.
The company hired Nissan exec Jun Seki to oversee its EV plans, and Seki told Bloomberg about the timeline:
“We never give up, 5% is the first step we have to achieve,” said Seki, and the ultimate aim is to garner a share as large as Hon Hai has in smartphone manufacturing, as much as 40% or more.
To date, Hon Hai has only won corporate customers for its EV manufacturing at home in Taiwan. It ventured into the EV assembly business in 2020 as then-new Chairman Young Liu, who took over from founder Terry Gou, was looking for new cash cows.
How Foxconn planned to do this has felt a little opaque to me. It purchased the former GM Lordstown Assembly and was going to build Fiskers, and maybe Scouts, but those plans obviously haven’t worked out that way. Seki said that Lordstown will take about five years to ramp up EV production, though for whom I’m not sure.
Perhaps for Seki’s old company Nissan? Asia’s Nikkei news service kicked off a new round of chatter about Nissonda happening, with little explanation for the urgency. This morning came a clear explanation from the news site:
As of September, 22.8% of Nissan shares were held by trust banks, and Foxconn appears to have been interested in these shares in order to have an influence in Nissan’s business.
When Nissan became aware of Foxconn’s moves, the struggling automaker held behind-the-scenes talks to hammer out ways to defend itself.
Uh oh! Nissan didn’t really want to be owned by Renault and the company’s leadership would probably be happier not merging with Honda. It clearly sees Foxconn as the worst of all worlds as Foxconn is looking to make money and would likely dramatically cut back what the company does.
According to this report, Honda wouldn’t go through with a Nissan partnership if Foxconn ended up taking over the company. This makes sense. Honda is trying to merge with Nissan in part to protect itself from new competitors that can make cheap cars on a massive scale. If Honda handed more of its technical know-how to Nissan it would effectively be passing that information to Foxconn.
Again, from the Nikkei article.
In December, Foxconn accelerated its under-the-radar activities, and Nissan received information that Foxconn’s Seki was planning to meet with Renault CEO Luca de Meo in Paris.
“It would not be surprising if Foxconn approached [Renault] about acquiring Nissan shares at that meeting,” a Nissan official said.
Now the timing makes sense. Would Nissan and Honda really work? That’s a fair question and columnist Antony Currie points out that a merger isn’t always a slam dunk:
A well-executed merger could buy Nissan and Honda time not just to slash expenses but to bolster their subpar portfolio, not least of electric and hybrid cars. Stellantis shows that if executives don’t focus on producing vehicles customers want to buy at prices that keep shareholders happy, any union is likely to careen off the road again.
This is true, though Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Honda don’t have quite as much overlap as you’d think, and Stellantis was way too many brands being combined at once. I’m hopeful that a mixture of cost-cutting, streamlining, and a renewed product focus for Nissan could work out for everyone.
Jet Blue CEO: Air Traffic Control Is ‘Grossly Understaffed’
Here’s a little secret: I switched from being a mostly Delta customer to a mostly JetBlue customer. I think Delta service is, in general, better, but it was too hard to maintain status at my diminished level of flying. No one wants to be the 900th person in line for an upgrade and Delta is clogged with business travelers now.
JetBlue is more focused on travel/leisure flyers who don’t fly as often, which means that status is easier to attain and use. I just leveled up to Mosaic status for next year and I didn’t even fly that much this year.
So, when JetBlue’s CEO Joanna Geraghty talks, I’m going to listen, because that’s how I plan to get around most of next year. And right now she’s complaining about ATC.
“I wish this administration would focus more on air traffic control,” Chief Executive Officer Joanna Geraghty said in a Bloomberg Television interview Tuesday. “That has definitely been a meaningful pressure for JetBlue and other airlines.”
The nation is “grossly understaffed” in air traffic controllers, she said, and “we should be able to have a more resilient air traffic system.” JetBlue and other carriers with large operations in the New York area have been particularly hard hit by the shortages.
Yikes! Let’s get this fixed.
The Detroit Auto Show Is Back In January Where It Belongs
I have a great affection for the Detroit Auto Show and miss having a reason to go every year. It was fun to bop around seeing everyone, getting drinks at the Firehouse, and watching Kim Cattrall get paid to flirt with Dr. Z.
Now that the Detroit Auto Show is back in January, the hope is it’ll reclaim a little bit of its past glory. From this Automotive News article it sounds like it’ll be mostly local dealerships providing inventory, though Ineos, Rivian, and the Detroit 3 will be there:
“There’s absolutely been a shift if you compare where we were 15-20 years ago, and then, obviously after COVID,” Klemet told Automotive News affiliate Crain’s Detroit Business on Dec. 17. “But actually, I’m pretty encouraged by this, and here’s why: We are a consumer-focused show. We want to make sure that the people that come down to the show, more than ever, are the people that are looking to buy cars, that are interested in buying cars, that love cars in general, and so to create an experience for them that taps into those passions is critically important for us.” Corporate-sponsored brands for the upcoming show include Alfa Romeo, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Ford, GMC, Jeep, Kia, Lincoln, Ram, Toyota and Volkswagen.
I hope it’s a huge success and everyone goes back to Detroit next year in January.
Go Watch ‘Edith’ On Amazon Prime
I’ve had a job as both a secret-teller and a secret-keeper, and between the two I think I’d rather be a secret-teller. That made my last job at TV/film/video production company TangentVector tough sometimes. The company works for a lot of automakers and often ends up seeing things way before even the PR folks do.
Towards the end of my time there, before I came over to The Autopian, I was told about a project so clandestine that I’d be murdered in my sleep if I even hinted about its existence. Few people even at Porsche knew that the company was building a 911 that could conquer a volcano somewhere in South America.
The more details I heard about the project, the more insane it sounded to me, and I was glad that I wasn’t going on this particular shoot. When I left, the project had been unsuccessful and that’s most of what I knew. Eventually, Porsche made it work, and Tangent produced a documentary about the climb. I saw it earlier this year at Pebble Beach in a theater and it made me feel viscerally uncomfortable. In a good way! This was scary.
You can now see the film on Amazon Prime and if you have Prime it’s worth watching. If you don’t have Prime, just get Prime to watch it.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
My favorite political story this week was the one about the New Jersey congressman busted for making his Spotify wrapped playlist look like all his top songs were by Bruce Springsteen. That’s so New Jersey. I guess he’s on the “naughty” list this year, but perhaps he can get on the “good” list by listening to Bruce and the E Street Band performing “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town” in Houston.
The Big Question
What should the new Nissan-Honda and maybe Mitsubishi company be called? I’m enjoying Nissonda, a name suggested by Thomas. [Editor’s Note: What about more old-school, like Hondatsun? That has BOTH full names, thanks to the common letters! – JT]
Photo: Nissan/Honda/_____, This post contains an Amazon affiliate link and we could make a comission.
I think the last thing Nissan needs is cost cutting.
IMHO, Nissan needs to just die already. Very little of value will be lost. Merging with Honda will bring down Honda far more than it brings up Nissan. Now Nissan and Mitsubishi – that’s a merger of equals…
Having to go to Detroit in January is practically a Geneva Convention violation – the place is depressing enough in mid-summer. I was at the Detroit Auto Show whatever year the New Beetle debuted (still have the hat from that). It was fun, but colder than a witch’s whatsit, and I had to drive through a blizzard to get there from Maine. Fun…
“the place is depressing enough in mid-summer.”
Nah, you just went to the wrong places or didn’t get out on the lakes. If you aren’t (ironically, not in a car) out on a boat on a lake, you are doing Detroit the wrong way.
The lakes are where it’s at.
The convention center is not in the middle of the lake. And even then, I’m from the coast of Maine – the great lakes are a poor substitute for the Atlantic Ocean.
I’m not gonna argue this, but Cobo is literally a stone’s throw from the Detroit River, which connects Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie. Also, the inland lakes, which are basically on every road north of the hood, are relatively pristine by nature and are runways for sweet-ass boats and planes.
But, if you like that salt-water crap, have at you 🙂
If you prefer inland freshwater, Maine walks all over Michigan for that too, being both the most heavily forested AND the most covered in water state as a percentage of area. <shrug> Plus actual mountains. And fjords. And the entire state is distinctly lacking in “hood” and abandoned urban rural hellscapes.
I’ve spent plenty of time in MI, including multiple weeks in the UP – ever actually BEEN to Maine?
Did you just write “fjords”? lol.
I’m sure Maine is very nice.
The weather may have been worse in Detroit that weekend, but an overall comparison of Maine to Michigan as winter wonderlands is not so clear cut. And while Detroit still has issues with crime, it does not have nearly the range and number of incidences, issues and fatalities due to haunted houses, haunted pet cemeteries, haunted Plymouths, sewer molesters, and the like that Maine has struggled with for more than half a century.
Nobody is trying to hold a major auto show in Maine in the dead of winter – and I eventually smartened up and have been spending winters 1700 miles south for most of a decade now.
A Honda-Nissan-Mitsu merger would benefit all parties involved. We Americans are very self-centered BUT China IS THE WORLDS LARGEST AUTO PRODUCER and separately the individual companies are indeed small but have very similar beginnings AND Mitsubishi is a large shipping and shipbuilding company which is pretty important to actually get things to places. My two cents is that the merger will happen within 3 months.
The farther away Nissan and Mitsubishi can get from Renault the better.
Mitsubishi shipbuilding is a different company. I don’t think they’re involved here at all.
Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are definitely different companies. Google search is telling me that MHI owns 1.44% of Mitsubishi motors outstanding shares, so they are involved only a little bit.
Well, it all depends on what the ultimate goal is. If the ultimate goal is to infect Honda with mediocrity and destroy the company from within, a merger with Nissan makes a lot of sense, because I don’t see any other realistic outcome
So you’re saying this would be like what McDonnell-Douglas did to Boeing….
Pretty much, yeah. Also what British Motor Holdings did to Leyland
And what Mercedes did to Chrysler, prior to the whole FCA/Stellantis debacle.
If Honda goes through with this, step one is to fire all of the Nissan management and let all of them reapply for their old jobs. Then be VERY selective about which ones you bring back.
Honda needs to think in terms of acquiring assets and IP, not people. There’s a reason Nissan is in the shape it’s in, and the people responsible need to be culled from the combined herd. Otherwise you’re just setting yourself up for failure.
Exactly, string Nissan along until their other suitors drop out, then back away, let then go bankrupt, and pick up the assets you want at that point. Like what SAIC did with MG Rover
Honda is already kind of headed that way. CVTs almost across the board, questionable styling choices (though the new Passport – admittedly strongly resembling a 4Runner in my eyes – and Civic look OK), vampiric dealers who treat customers like personal no-limit ATMs, hush-hush oil consumption and fouling issues, problems adopting 1234yf, the list goes on.
Is that better than Nissan? Well, they recognized the CVT is a bad choice in the Pathfinder a few years ago (finally!) and they still make the Frontier and a (personally unappealing) RWD sports car. Their recent designs have been pretty decent. So it’s kind of a wash.
“The company formerly known as Honda” with a Honda/Nissan mash-up logo. It worked for Prince! /s
“I see you’re driving the new [unpronounceable glyph]!”
“Officially they call it a BZ4X, but you’re not wrong.”
I’m not entirely sure what’s in this for Honda other than getting bigger. I suppose that helps ensure their ongoing survival, and Toyota essentially has a monopoly on all the other desirable Japanese automotive brands. But when it comes to actual cars and manufacturing-what does Nissan do better than Honda?
I genuinely can’t think of anything. I guess they’re a little further ahead on BEVs but that market has stalled in a major way and Honda’s already collaborating with GM on that front. Anyway I agree with some of the takes that they may be under pressure to save Nissan from the powers that be in Japan.
They’re an incredibly nationalistic culture and having a storied national brand die (even if it’s kind of deserved at this point) would be devastating for national pride. And it’s not like we here in yee haw land have any room to talk, our government has already bailed out our big car manufacturers when they were sucking mondo ass.
The only things Nissan does that Honda doesn’t is true BOF trucks and RWD platforms. Honda could gain a lot with Nissan’s pre-existing platforms, and Nissan could obviously gain a lot with Honda engineering and standards
Nissan is WAY better at selling cars to people with <500 credit scores than Honda. Something they have in common with Mitsubishi.
What always seems to get missed in the whining about the Feds bailing out GM and Chrysler is that if either of them had been allowed to actually go under, they would have taken down nearly ALL of the suppliers too – and that would have taken down the ENTIRE US auto industry, domestics and locally producing imports as well – it’s largely all the same network of companies making parts for ALL of them. That would have been absolutely catastrophic for a country already reeling from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The Feds did the correct thing, GM at least got better for it (Chrysler, weeeeeelll), and the money was paid back with interest.
It’s a shame that the U.S. government couldn’t have found better partner for Chrysler than Fiat. There are parts of Chrysler, particularly the Ram and Jeep brands, still have promise and cachet and could be great. It’s the rest of the mess they’re tethered to that’s always the problem.
Beggars don’t get to be choosers. Nobody else wanted anything to do with them. And it did make sense. Fiat needed an entry to the US market (which they HUGELY botched by insisting on separate “Fiat Studios” rather than just selling in existing showrooms, and Chrysler needed small car platform help. Which of course they also botched with the Dart. But reality is that small cars were going down like the Titanic anyway by then.
If I remember correctly, both Ford and Toyota were advocating that GM and Chrysler be bailed out because they would lose their suppliers, not rejoicing at the potential elimination of a still-substantial market rival and, uh… Chrysler.
You remember correctly. Allowing them to go under would have been absolutely catastrophic. They are too big to be allowed to fail. And why people go on about this even now is stupid – they paid back the money, with interest, and many jobs were saved, even if some were also lost along the way.
Nissan is better at light trucks than Honda is.
Are they?
Overall, the Ridgeline has mostly outsold the Titan, and in recent years, it’s not even close. Honda was smart to build the “truck” that actual suburban truck owners who aren’t cosplaying as cowboys need, rather than tilting at windmills by trying take on the Detroit 3 head-on.
Frontier.
Still a bit of an also-ran these days. But I guess everybody needs one product that doesn’t completely suck. I’d still *infinitely* rather have a Ridgeline, and I don’t even like Hondas, at all.
Then I’ll also add the Armada. The Navara and Patrol body-on-frame platforms that do very well in Southeast Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East. These are areas Honda is lacking in.
So what? Does every company need to build every possible niche vehicle?
No, I am not suggesting that Honda needs to make them. I am saying that Nissan can continue doing that but with Honda’s help, ultimately benefitting the both of them as part of a merger.
I see a ton of new Frontiers around, they are less expensive alternative to the Taco.
Building EV batteries that stop holding a charge after 5 years?
I’ve been asking a similar question but I guess really the question is more about our current corporate world cultures when you look at the global scales they operate within;
Why is it beneficial for Honda to just be bigger? Are they hurting by only producing ~40% of what Toyota produces? If they spend so much on acquiring the shares of Nissan or outright merging with them as equals (I hope not!) then where is the benefit? Yes you’re bigger and your manufacturing footprint is more equal to a big competitor but how much did you spend to get there? Is it just the speed to acquire is so much less than building your own brands and factories for expansion?
Realistically, my guess is this is a situation of, “perception is reality,” and if consumers and shareholders now see Honda as being more equal to Toyota there may be some benefit. But only if the reputation of Nissan as subpar in quality and subprime in their lending doesn’t drag Honda down. In my opinion as an enthusiast (the lowest priority for the manufacturer of course) Honda is mostly hurt by this.
Hence the prevailing belief that this is something Honda is being either forced or incentivized into doing by the Japanese government.
You might be right. Certainly there is something to be said in getting along with your government that has a lot of power to help or hurt you.
But I bet there are a lot of people inside Honda that just like the idea of being bigger, closer to their biggest competitor.
For one thing, ADAS development costs can be spread out over a larger number of cars. Honda could partner as they have with GM on EVs, but they have tech and engineering skills in house. Putting it in more cars lowers that amortized unit cost.
I could see Honda becoming the sophisticated brand in the US and Europe, with Nissan as a value player that receives the fruits of Honda propulsion and suspension development once costs are removed – somewhere between a Dacia and a Skoda. That and the trucks and the market share in other parts of the world could make for a desirable and profitable operation.
Granted, this depends on whatever merger that may arise not being screwed up. Nissan’s issues since the turn of the 21st century are well-known, but Honda’s business and product decisions haven’t always been flawless either. Those fragile automatic transmissions for six-cylinders in the 2000s weren’t something to be proud of, and while Acura ‘s doldrums aren’t nearly as bad as Infiniti’s failures, there was still a lot of potential for upmarket expansion unrealized there.
Any name as long as it’s nothing like AFEELA.
I’ll quote below what I previously commented in one of the last posts on HonDatsun. Long term there’s surely some synergies that would better position themselves against Toyota, especially with Toyota being affiliated with all the little companies as noted.
Honda’s US success and market share has always been higher than its position relative to Nissan in elsewhere, and with slower growth in the US and Europe as mature markets, sales in South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa will become more and more important. It’s not like Honda has no presence in any of these areas, but it’s not anywhere near the Toyota Automotive Co-Prosperity Sphere’s and runs behind Stellantis in the latter two.
The Kanji for Nissan is 日産, and Honda is 本田. Combine the two and you get 日本, aka Japan.
One Japanese car maker to rule them all.
Honda-san? Seem obvious to me but what do I know?
Super Honda Brothers (Nii-san, get it?), get Nintendo to do a crossover promotion.
With Piston Honda as the mascot.
I hate this so much. I know Honda is probably being pressured by the government to help bail out Nissan, and my hope is that this ends up being nothing more than Honda sharing some manufacturing and engineering knowledge with Nissan to help them on their way to profitability.
Basically just treat Nissan like some deformed mutant entity. Keep it locked in a cage and occasionally slide it some bread and cheese so it doesn’t rise up and kill you in the middle of the night.
This merger helps Honda greatly too. The Chinese are breathing down the neck of Honda and with them being the largest auto producer in the world, theirs is the largest threat to Japanese industry, and not just automotive.
But Nissan hasn’t exactly been competitive against the Chinese, either. I don’t know what they can hope to offer in that regard.
Just as your screen name states, development options. A larger company overall will result from the merger. Honda has a lot of good tech, Nissan also does and don’t forget how strong Nissan is in Latin America and Europe as well. Mitsu has huge manufacturing capabilities outside of automotive and overall are doing well. Honda has not seen true growth in US sales in awhile and of course neither has Nissan. Mitsu has had explosive growth of course but from zero so it’s not saying a lot other than true potential is there not only in the US but worldwide.
It’ll be a bigger company, but I’m not as optimistic that it will be a better company. I genuinely like Mitsubishi and feel that there’s something special there – they just need a better dealer network and a hefty marketing budget and they could probably be a new Mazda. Nissan gives me no hope whatsoever.
Yup, people were claiming the Stellantis merger would give the company the scale to be competitive globally and well… look how that turned out. They just married a bunch of problematic brands together (many of which should be axed but won’t because of political pressure, if we’re being honest) and didn’t fix any of the underlying problems. Nissan is just deadweight for the most parts. The merger could maybe work if Honda could truly be in the driver’s seat, take what’s actually good and jettison the rest. But I have feeling that the same nationalistic forces will prevent that from actually happening. Nissan will continue bumbling along in mediocrity and it’ll now be Honda’s problem to prop them up.
I think you’re right. Nissan’s biggest issue to me is their image. They left Ghosn in control for so long that they developed a reputation, and deservedly, as a maker of dirt cheap, unreliable penalty boxes that offered no advantage over the competition outside of price. That’s not an easy reputation to shake, no matter how much you improve your cars.
The only things of value that I see Honda gaining from this merger would be American manufacturing capacity; Nissan USA has the Smyrna, TN assembly plant (their flagship factory) the Dechard, TN engine plant, and the Canton, MS assembly plant.
I think this merger is more for Nissan’s sake than it is Honda’s. Honda already has a very strong foothold in the US in terms of manufacturing, and I doubt they need more capacity. Hopefully this ends up being nothing more than Honda showing Nissan how to help their existing factories run more efficiently.
All within about 3 hours from the AL plant that cranks out most of Honda’s US bread & butter, as well as suppliers. Good thinking.
A good name? Jellantis
I guess I can dream now of a next gen Nissan Z with the mass and drag of a 1st gen Honda Insight, and an S2000 engine in it, all tuned for the Nürburgring.
“We”
We can dream about it.
The nightmare is that it’ll be a CVT Honda E but with the body-in-white designed by the idiots who made the 1600kg inverse-Tardis 350Z
Truly the nightmare before Christmas.
If Nissan talking about merging seems last-minute, just think about every single Nissan you see on the highway.
An automotive merger where the stakes are as high as the drivers.
Stakes can get that high?
If Honda is involved, Nissan doesn’t deserve to go first in any conglomerate naming mashup.
In terms of engineering hierarchy I’m not sure who would ever get to go first in a merger with Honda.
Diamond H Shield motors
Honda Motor Company that includes Nissan and Mitsubishi along Honda Motorcycles, Marine etc. Honda has the brand name and good reputation, keep it that way.
This. Keep Nissan as far away from this as possible. Sorry, Nissan, you had a chance to be big, but you blew it by hiring complete shitheads over and over again. You need to pay the piper for this by no longer existing. Never Nissan.
Even though I much prefer the nicer weather, I’m fine with the auto show returning in January. Not much going on at the beginning of the year while all the events pile up in the summer.
I struggle to understand what Honda stands to gain from merging with Nissan. Honda doesn’t have the largest scale but produces quality vehicles with a loyal customer base. Nissan is a garbage can of a company, everything they produce just screams “also ran” and the brand equity for Nissan/Infiniti is pretty much nonexistent at this point. I would imagine that the Japanese government is probably pressuring Honda to try to keep Nissan alive.
I mean in all honesty, would anyone besides rental car fleets and its employees actually care if Nissan were to go under? I really don’t think so. Not every automaker/brand is going to survive this coming reckoning in the market and it just doesn’t seem to me that the brand/company is worth saving. Now letting it fail and scooping up some if its desirable parts, that’s a different story. I just don’t see justification for it to exist in its current form, or even be merged into another company.
I, for one, would love to roll $10k of negative equity into an 2014 Accord with 3 spare tires. Sadly, THE MAN (ie, banks) won’t let me. Yet.
Totally agree. Honda has been losing their edge on engineering and quality anyway and this will add to the management challenges. Big mistake for Honda, as you say probably forced on them via Japanese govt.
I think Honda will gain all Nissan’s EV experience. While it isn’t great compared to Kia, GM, Ford or Tesla, it’s still slightly better than Toyota.
Honda will also understand the “brand DNA” that attracted the stereotypical Altima driver. I don’t think Honda gains anything with that unless they want the next generation Civic to attract former Altima owners.
That’s fair, and it’s what I often see as the justification cited for this deal. I dunno though, I have a hard time seeing getting access to Nissan’s somewhat obsolete EV technology being worth inheriting the problems and messes that plague the rest of the company. It seems there’s less painful ways Honda could make agreements to get the EV technology they need.
While it has GM guts, I already see more Prologues on the road than Nissan Ariyas or Leafs. So I am not sure what they get from Nissan.
Oh, Honda would actually be able to make trucks with the Nissan truck experience. Give Honda Powersports a Frontier to play with.
Japantis
Gojiranda, with a full range of models including:
Accordima
CRogue-V
Sentric
Piefinder
OddQuest
HR-Vicks
S37000Z
NS-Juke Type-Nismo.
Hondatsun! Genius.
Also: let’s hope it means an S16 Silvia with a 9,000rpm engine and not a Juke with the range of a Honda E.
Actually I’ve not shopped for either a Honda car or a Nissan since the 350Z decades ago, or the CRX even more decades ago.
I’m a huge fan of Honda bikes and the only thing that will replace my RVF is a VTR RC51. Please don’t let this ruin bikes for me.
RC51 hasn’t been in production for over 20 years.
Honda motorcycles hasn’t offered that kind of ‘spark’ of excitement/competition in ages; even the VFR800 is gone.