Japan's Honda and Nissan mull merger

DW (English)

Japanese auto giants Honda and Nissan are in talks to merge their operations, media have reported. What will be the world's third-largest auto group hopes to compete against Tesla and Chinese electric-vehicle makers.

Transcript

00:00Nissan and Honda are under pressure. The ongoing price war for electric vehicles triggered

00:05by Tesla and BYD is forcing the two Japanese manufacturers, like many others in the automotive

00:12industry, to cut costs and accelerate the development of new models. A merger of the

00:17two companies would create a new car giant with a market value of $54 billion.

00:26Toyota is the global market leader with 11.2 million cars sold in 2023, followed by Volkswagen

00:33with 9.2 million cars. The merged company would oust South Korea's Hyundai from its

00:38number three position. Together, Honda and Nissan will sell 7.5 million cars.

00:46But that's not all. According to reports, Mitsubishi Motors would also be absorbed into

00:51the new car giant. Mitsubishi has been working closely with Nissan since 2016.

01:00The reaction on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was mixed. The shares of the larger merger partner

01:05Honda lost more than 3% on Wednesday, whereas Nissan's shares shot up by 24%.

01:12It was only in November that Nissan announced 9,000 job cuts. At the same time, the company

01:18announced that it would cut 20% of its global production capacity.

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