Nissan If we join forces with our Japanese counterparts, we will become victims of a cost-cutting massacre. Honda“, former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn told CNBC on Tuesday.
“I think there’s no doubt that Honda will be dominant, and after 19 years of leading Nissan, it’s very sad to see that (and) “Bringing Nissan to the forefront of the industry and seeing that they’re going to be the victim of a bloodbath because of the complete duplication between Nissan and Honda,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”
Ghosn, who led the three carmakers in the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance, has been living in Lebanon since he was arrested in Japan in November 2018 and fled trial on financial crimes charges. He denies wrongdoing.
“There’s really no complementarity here, which means that if they want to create synergies, it might be through cost reduction, duplication of plans, duplication of technology, and we know exactly who is going to pay for it. Becoming a secondary collaboration Partner, it will be Nissan,” Ghosn said.
Nissan and French cars are highly complementary RenaultGhosn presumed he was referring to a long-standing relationship that has largely been dissolved.
Speculation about a possible merger between Honda and Nissan began earlier this month, with the two companies confirming at a press conference on Monday that they have officially begun talks to integrate their businesses. Under the current proposal, a holding company would parent both companies and be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, with Honda, which has a market capitalization about four times that of Nissan, nominating a majority of the new entity’s board members. Nissan’s strategic partner Mitsubishi is also in talks to join the group.
$54 billion Nissan-Honda group set to overtake South Korea modern Become the world’s third largest automaker after Japan toyota and german Volkswagen. The integrated group would also represent a milestone in the consolidation of the auto industry, long anticipated as companies in Japan and around the world struggle to cover the costs of developing electric vehicles and autonomous driving technology.
Honda and Nissan executives stressed on Monday that the combined company would be able to share the intelligence and resources needed to compete in the electric vehicle transition and achieve economies of scale, boosting operating profit forecast to 3 trillion yen ($19.1 billion).
Nissan embarks on ambitious merger while conducting in-depth study It announced a restructuring in November that would reduce global production capacity by a fifth and cut 9,000 jobs.
Honda Chief Executive Toshihiro Mibe acknowledged on Monday that some shareholders may believe Honda will support struggling Nissan as part of the deal, but stressed that business integration talks “will not bear fruit if the two automakers cannot stand on their own.” ”.
Still, Ghosn told CNBC the merger plan showed “Nissan is in panic mode and looking for someone to save them because they can’t find a solution on their own.”
He expressed “high doubts” that Nissan’s transformation would be successful but did not provide details.
Kei Okamura, senior vice president and portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman, also said the details of the merger plan still need to be finalized.
“If you’re an investor, you’re looking at three to five profit prospects. What was announced (Monday) was the near term, the timeline and the long-term vision. The only question is how can this combined entity get there, and that’s That’s where there’s a lot of uncertainty about the future,” Okamura told CNBC’s “Signpost Asia” on Tuesday.
“Post-merger integration will be absolutely necessary… Unless these companies can be truly fully integrated in terms of people, assets and, of course, culture, there is a risk that these deals will be terminated, and we have to consider that if (Nissan) doesn’t To complete its turnaround plan, the deal may not happen,” Okamura added.
Nissan declined to comment for this story its statement Going out on Monday. Honda did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
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