Nissan’s mooted merger with Honda may be best answer to industry’s EV problem

Potential deal sounds more like a credible plan for crisis-hit carmaker as its troubled alliance with Renault hits a dead end

Until recently, the plan at crisis-hit Nissan was to muddle through somehow. About 9,000 job losses were announced last month out of a global workforce of 130,000. Production capacity was cut by 20%. There was some muttering about seeking a new anchor investor because the troubled 25-year alliance with Renault of France was heading up a dead end. None of it appeared to be a sufficiently radical response to a self-described “severe situation” and a plunge in Nissan’s stock market value to a clapped-out $8bn (£6.3bn).

It seems its management now agrees. The new game is talks with Honda on a full-blown merger, which should probably be viewed as a takeover given that the would-be partner is worth four times as much. Either way, the potential deal sounds more like a credible plan: full consolidation creates the possibility of far deeper cost-cuts at what would be the world’s third largest car company producing 8m vehicles a year if Mitsubishi (where Nissan is a large shareholder) is also thrown into the mix.

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