Honda, Nissan Plan to Create World's No. 3 Automaker in 2026 Merger

Source: Wall Street Journal

Honda and Nissan said they planned to merge in 2026, a move Honda’s chief executive said wasn’t a rescue of troubled Nissan but a recognition that developing new technologies was too hard to do alone.

The companies said they intended to create an automaker that, combined with Nissan partner Mitsubishi Motors, would be the third-largest carmaker in the world, after Toyota and Volkswagen, with more than eight million vehicles sold annually.

The announcement came at the end of a year in which Nissan’s profit has tumbled in part because of a dated model lineup in the U.S. Both companies have cratered in China, where electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids are growing quickly. Last year, China surpassed Japan as the world’s leading auto exporter by number of vehicles.

With the car industry moving toward autonomous vehicles driven by artificial intelligence, the companies said they needed to combine research and cut costs to survive.

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