Honda Executive: Merger With Nissan Offers Expanded Production Capabilities
Honda executives recently shared some of the company’s motivations behind merging with Nissan at CES in Las Vegas, reports The Verge.
During a roundtable discussion, Noriya Kaihara, director and executive vice president at Honda, explained that such a merger would help Honda to reduce costs for its software defined vehicles by sharing resources between itself and Nissan.
Additionally, the presence of large SUVs like the Armada and Pathfinder in Nissan’s lineup is something of interest to Honda—particularly, adapting the hybrid technology currently only seen in Honda’s midsize vehicles to Nissan’s larger models.
Honda has also been experiencing overcapacity at its production plants serving the U.S., and the available space in Nissan’s factories would help Honda achieve its production goals.
“I’m not in a position to make comment [on Nissan], but they have capacity,” said Kaihara.
Merging Honda’s resources with Nissan may also help it to compete with China, with Honda having concerns over China’s advances in EV and autonomous driving.
“(The) rise of Chinese automakers and new players has changed the car industry quite a lot... We have to build up capabilities to fight with them by 2030, otherwise we’ll be beaten,” stated Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe last month when Honda and Nissan entered a memorandum of understanding to establish a company together.
