BAKU. Azerbaijan. August 16. Nissan and Honda may accept Mitsubishi into their alliance, Trend reports.
The union between the Japanese companies will help them reduce their costs of developing cars and fight back against the growing Chinese auto industry, Nikkei Asia writes, citing insiders. Together, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi produce more than eight million cars per year.
Mitsubishi Motors, 34 percent of whose shares belong to Nissan, will discuss the details of a strategic partnership with Honda and Nissan, Motoru.ru writes. The three Japanese auto giants intend to start with the standardization of on-board software, insiders say. However, they may go further: the issue of joint development of the cars themselves is also on the agenda.
Honda and Nissan announced a comprehensive cooperation in March of this year. This happened against the backdrop of Nissan systematically losing market share in the US and China - its most important regions, which account for about half of its global sales. In June, Nissan even had to close a plant in Changzhou, China, which had not even been in operation for four years.
Honda is also experiencing difficulties in China. Last week, it was reported that it would shut down several lines, reducing local production by about a third.
The reasons are tough competition in China from local brands, as well as Tesla, which produces electric cars at a gigafactory in Shanghai. The Japanese, experts say, have not had time to adapt to the turn towards "green" mobility in China, which has led to a sharp drop in demand for internal combustion engine cars in the world's largest auto market.