Japan: Japan’s Nissan and Honda, who are fighting Chinese manufacturers’ hegemony in the auto industry, have decided to explore the prospect of forming an electric vehicle alliance.
The technology that helps expedite efforts towards “carbon neutrality and zero traffic-accident fatalities” would be the primary focus of Nissan and Honda’s possible collaboration, the automakers announced.
According to the corporations, elements of the feasibility study will deal with EVs and automotive software platforms.
“It is important to prepare for the increasing pace of transformation in mobility in the mid-to-long-term, and it is significant that we have reached this agreement based on a mutual understanding that Honda and Nissan face common challenges,” Nissan President and CEO Makoto Uchida said in a statement.
“We look forward to further discussions and aim to find win-wins for sustainable growth. Whether the synergy of the technologies and knowledge that our companies have cultivated will enable us to become industry leaders by creating new value for the automotive industry,” stated Toshihiro Mibe, President and Director of Honda, as the criterion for their alliance.
Before this, Nikkei Asia claimed that the automakers would think about creating a joint EV platform and EV powertrain.
In their home market, which is the largest in the world, both Nissan and Honda have found it difficult to compete with their Chinese EV rivals.
Nissan’s output in China last year dropped short of one million automobiles for the first time in over ten years, down 24 percent, to about 793,000 vehicles.
By 2040, Honda intends to raise the percentage of electric and fuel cell vehicles it sells to 100 percent of total sales.
Nissan and France’s Renault already collaborate on electric vehicles (EVs); the revised Micra will be built at the same Douai factory as the new Renault Five and will have the same architecture. Over 50 percent of the worldwide EV market is supplied by Chinese automakers.
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