Makoto Uchida (left), president and CEO of Japanese automaker Nissan, shakes hands with Toshihiro Mibe (right), director, president and representative executive officer of automaker Honda, after a press conference in Tokyo on August 1, 2024 .
Richard A. Brooks | AFP | Getty Images
Nissan Shares surged on Wednesday after media reports the Japanese automaker was seeking a merger with Honda.
Nissan shares recently rose 22%, while Honda shares fell 1.2%.
Honda and Nissan are reportedly considering operating under a holding company and will sign a memorandum of understanding soon Nikkei. They also reportedly hope to eventually bring Mitsubishi Motors, of which Nissan is the largest shareholder with a 24% stake, into the holding company.
In a statement, Nissan said media reports that it was “considering business integration with Honda” were not based on our company’s announcement. Nissan said it is considering various possibilities for future cooperation with Honda and Mitsubishi, but no decisions have been made yet.
According to “Nikkei” report, the annual sales volume of the merged Nissan-Honda-Mitsubishi company will exceed 8 million vehicles. That would put the company among the world’s largest automakers, but still below Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. 11.2 million by 2023, and German automaker Volkswagen, which last year reported sales of 9.2 million vehicle.
The merger report follows a strategic partnership between the two Japanese automakers earlier this year to share vehicle parts and software.
Such a cooperation would be the largest automotive industry merger since Fiat Chrysler merged with France’s PSA Group in January 2021 to form Stellantis.
This is a breaking news story. Please refresh for updates.
—Michael Wayland and Hui Jie contributed to this report.
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