Makoto Uchida (L), president and CEO of Japanese auto maker Nissan, shakes palms with Toshihiro Mibe (R), director, president and consultant govt officer of auto maker Honda, following a press convention in Tokyo on August 1, 2024.
Richard A. Brooks | Afp | Getty Images
Nissan Motor shares surged Wednesday following a media report that the Japanese automaker is trying to merge with Honda Motor.
Nissan shares had been final buying and selling up 22%, whereas Honda shares slipped 1.2%.
Honda and Nissan are contemplating working below a holding firm, and shortly will signal a memorandum of understanding, in accordance with a report within the Nikkei newspaper. They additionally look to finally deliver Mitsubishi Motors, wherein Nissan is the highest shareholder with a 24% stake, below the holding firm, in accordance with the report.
In an announcement, Nissan stated media stories that it’s “contemplating a enterprise integration” with Honda are usually not based mostly on an announcement from our firm. Nissan stated it’s contemplating numerous potentialities for future collaboration with Honda and Mitsubishi, however no choices have been made.
The mixed Nissan-Honda-Mitsubishi enterprise would equate to greater than 8 million automobile gross sales yearly, in accordance with Nikkei. That would place the corporate among the many world’s largest automakers, however nonetheless beneath fellow Japanese automaker Toyota Motor, at 11.2 million in 2023, in addition to German automaker Volkswagen, which final yr reported gross sales of 9.2 million autos.
The merger report follows the 2 Japanese automakers getting into right into a strategic partnership earlier this yr on shared automotive parts and software program.
Such a tie-up can be the biggest automotive business merger since Fiat Chrysler joined with France-based PSA Groupe to type Stellantis in January 2021.
This is a breaking information story. Please refresh for updates.
– Michael Wayland and Hui Jie contributed to this report.
