Honda and Nissan confirm EV merger to survive the every ‘100 years’ industry shake-up
Honda and Nissan will team up to build EVs as they look to keep pace with Tesla and BYD. The Honda and Nissan EV merger will create one of the world’s largest auto groups as they look to pull a third Japanese automaker into the partnership. Here’s everything you need to know.
How the Honda and Nissan EV merger will work
It’s official. Honda and Nissan signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Monday, laying the groundwork for a joint EV holding company. Executives from both companies confirmed the news.
We knew the EV merger was coming soon after a Nikkei report last week claimed Honda and Nissan were closing in on a deal. With around 8 million combined sales, the landmark partnership will create the third-largest auto group globally, behind Volkswagen and Toyota.
In August, Honda and Nissan extended the collaboration to include Mitsubishi. Nissan, which owns a 24% stake in Mitsubishi, said including its partner is “significant” and will enable them to deliver even greater value.
Honda’s CEO, Toshihiro Mibe, explained, “At this time of change in the automobile industry, which is said to occur once every 100 years, we hope that Mitsubishi Motors”’ participation in the business integration discussions of Nissan and Honda will lead to further social change.”
A rapidly changing auto industry
After kicking off discussions on Monday, Honda and Nissan said they plan to provide more details on Mitsubishi’s involvement around the end of January 2025. The EV merger is expected to be official by August 2026.
The deal comes after “the business environment for both companies, the wider automotive industry, has rapidly changed.” During a press conference (via Reuters), Mibe said, “The rise of Chinese automakers and new players has changed the car industry quite a lot.” Honda’s chief added:
We have to build up capabilities to fight with them by 2030, otherwise we’ll be beaten.
Like most legacy automakers, Honda and Nissan are struggling to keep pace with Tesla and Chinese EV leaders like BYD.
BYD continues taking the auto market by storm. After another record sales month in November, its second straight with over 500,000 vehicles sold, BYD is causing legacy automakers, like Honda and Nissan, to make drastic moves.
Under the EV merger, Honda will nominate a majority of the board. The new partnership is still subject to shareholder approval from both companies. Due to Nissan’s recently announced turnaround plan, it’s also contingent on obtaining approval from authorities.
Nissan announced its plans to cut around 9,000 jobs last month while reducing global production capacity by 20% after sales fell by 15% in the US and China in October.
Electrek’s Take
While BYD’s sales surge continues heating up, Japanese automakers have been some of the hardest hit. China is a key market for Japanese automakers, but it has become a battleground over the past few years.
In 2020, Japanese cars accounted for around 25% of vehicle sales in China. However, over the past four years, Japan’s auto giants have lost significant market share, more than any other region. And it’s not only in China. They are also quickly losing ground in Thailand, Singapore, and other critical global markets as Chinese EV leaders like BYD continue gaining ground.
Can Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi pool resources to turn things around and fend off the incoming wave of EV competition?
We will find out over the next few years as legacy automakers that were slow to transition to EVs continue scrambling to keep pace.
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Environment
Genesis is reportedly launching a luxury G70 EV sports sedan — Here’s what we know so far
Word on the street is the Genesis G70 is going all-electric. The luxury sports sedan is due for a complete overhaul, including a new look and a fully electric powertrain. Here’s what we know about the Genesis G70 EV so far.
Is Genesis launching a G70 EV sports sedan?
Hyundai’s luxury Genesis brand already offers three fully electric vehicles (EVs): the GV60, the Electrified GV70 SUV, and the Electrified G80 sedan.
This year, all are getting significant updates, including a longer driving range, a refined interior and exterior design, and even more luxury.
Genesis isn’t stopping here. The luxury automaker has even bigger plans in the works. According to Korea’s MotorsJason, the luxury sports sedan will be completely redesigned. The report claims the next-gen Genesis G70 will be exclusively sold as an EV model.
After the Kia Stinger GT1 EV project was put on hold, its launch was finally confirmed. Now, attention has shifted to its sibling, the Genesis G70.
Although the G70 was reportedly being discontinued, and plans for a hybrid were also scrapped, Genesis could revive it as an EV to attract younger buyers to the brand.
The electric G70 could even earn a Magma performance model. The company’s product planning director said the G70 is an important car for younger buyers to experience the Genesis brand. He explained that the model’s future is being discussed every day on a global level, adding there’s still hope for the G70.
At 4,685 mm (184.4″) long, the 2025 Genesis G70 is about the size of a Tesla Model 3 (4,720 mm/ 185.8″). However, the electric G70 is expected to be slightly smaller and sportier. It’s expected to fill the gap with the Audi A5 coupe and convertible being discontinued.
Like the GV90, its upcoming ultra-luxury electric SUV, the G70 EV will ride on Hyundai’s new eM platform, which will replace the current E-GMP.
Genesis is expected to unveil the GV90 by the end of the year (Here’s a look at it after it was spotted for the first time in South Korea). With the G70 EV still under development, it’s not likely to arrive until 2027 or 2028. Prices are expected to start at around 70 million won in Korea, or just under $50,000. Check back for more details soon.
Would you buy the electric Genesis sports sedan for around $50,000? Let us know what features you would want to see in the comments below.
Source: TheKoreanCarBlog, MotorsJason
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Environment
Chinese car journalists are told not to be negative on Tesla as it sues customers and media
A new scathing report about Tesla just came out in China. It describes how the automaker is becoming trigger-happy, suing its own customers and the media while auto journalists are being told not to be negative about the American automaker.
To this day, Tesla is the only foreign automaker with a wholly-owned car factory in China, although Toyota is expected to follow in a few years.
Elon Musk made the deal happen with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials back in 2018. Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai became the company’s biggest production hub and its biggest source of revenue and profit.
Tesla would never be where it is today without Gigafactory Shanghai and the Chinese market.
Now, we learn that Tesla is willing to go to great lengths to protect that.
The Associated Press (AP) has just released a fascinating in-depth report about Tesla’s activities in China regarding customers and the media.
The report centers around a new perspective on the highly publicized battle between Tesla and one of its Chinese customers who claimed a brake defect, but it also goes deeper by highlighting a shift in Tesla’s approach to criticism in China.
AP found that Tesla sued “at least six car owners in China who had sudden vehicle malfunctions, quality complaints or accidents they claimed were caused by mechanical failures.”
Tesla also sued “at least six bloggers and two Chinese media outlets that wrote critically about the company.”
This is highly unusual behavior for an automaker.
The report also highlights the close relationship between Tesla and CCP officials, especially Li Qiang, the former party boss of Shanghai who is now China’s premier. He was involved in the Gigafactory Shanghai deal.
It’s not news that Tesla benefited from preferential treatment in China, but the report goes quite a bit further.
AP alleges that local media are instructed not to be negative on Tesla:
Tesla has profited from the largesse of the Chinese state, winning unprecedented regulatory benefits, below-market rate loans and large tax breaks. With a few pointed exceptions, Tesla has enjoyed largely ingratiating coverage in the Chinese press, and journalists told AP they have been instructed to avoid negative coverage of the automaker.
A reporter told AP:
“We were told by our editor that we should not write negatively about Tesla because it is a key company that was introduced and protected by the Shanghai government.”
The report also explains how Tesla wins about 90% of the court cases filed against the automaker by customers who claim a defect.
Many customers complained of Tesla’s lack of communication, leading to filing lawsuits.
If they file lawsuits, they lose, and if they complain publicly, they are the ones getting sued by Tesla and forced to pay the company and make a public apology.
Electrek’s Take
That’s quite a report. It gave a new perspective on Ms. Zhang’s case. Her case made it to Western media in 2021-2022, but never with the level of detail in this report.
The facts are she got into an accident. She claimed it was due to a brake failure. Tesla claimed it was due to a driver mistake.
She felt compelled to protest Tesla over what she saw as a serious safety issue. She was quite persistent with it. Tesla sued her and won because she had no way to prove that a brake defect had caused the accident. She was forced to pay Tesla and make a public apology.
But we also learned that Tesla claimed that other entities were backing her despite no evidence of that whatsoever.
I think there’s room for reflection on Tesla’s part here. Is this what it wants to be: a company that sues its customers and media over criticism?
Like some customers said in the report, Tesla could have avoided much that by simply having better communications with customers.
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