Deal would create world’s third-largest carmaker with £46bn annual sales amid competition from China

Summary

Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi have confirmed merger talks to form the world’s third-largest carmaker by annual sales, aiming to tackle challenges from Chinese competition and the shift to electric vehicles.

The proposed merger, through a joint holding company, seeks to combine resources as Japan’s automakers struggle with declining sales and costly EV transitions, lagging behind leaders like Toyota and Chinese rivals BYD.

Nissan’s former CEO Carlos Ghosn criticized the plan, citing overlapping operations, while executives called it a pivotal move amid unprecedented industry changes. Mitsubishi will decide on joining by January’s end.

  • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    Nissan looks nice from the outside, but the whole interior feels way cheaper than it should for the price point. When you examine the fit and finish of non-interior assembly, it also starts standing out as pretty junky. Nissan’s popularity seems to be due entirely to the Z, and an SUV that they don’t even make anymore.

    • zephorah@lemm.ee
      2·
      2 days ago

      The frontier and the S10, now Colorado, were the cheapest small trucks in the market for a very long time. I’m sure that contributed. Colorado, for example, could be had at base for $19k in 2020 while the basic Tacoma started at $29k.

      • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        2 days ago

        The Colorado is a completely different truck than the S10. The Colorado is a mid-sized truck, with a powerful engine, and great towing capacity. The S10 was a small truck, with a middling engine, and idk if it could tow at all. The Colorado is a great truck though, especially the 4x4. Unfortunately the higher end models get up into the $70k range.

        • zephorah@lemm.ee
          1·
          2 days ago

          I’m not a car person, clearly. What I do know is when I price checked small trucks in 2020, the basic, no frills Nissan Frontier and Chevy Colorado cost exactly the same.

          Tacoma was $10k more, again, for the basic.

          By basic I mean: 2w drive, manual, roll windows, etc.

          • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.worldEnglish
            11·
            2 days ago

            Yeah, that’s the Colorado WT, WT stands for work truck. It’s a great vehicle if you just need a work truck. It’s still pretty good as an every day vehicle too, if you don’t care about the extras.