Late last year, Nissan signed a memorandum of understanding with Honda – as well as Alliance partner Mitsubishi – to explore a merger, amid reports that Nissan wasn’t in a healthy financial position.
That merger never eventuated and fell over in the subsequent months, with much of the blame being on Nissan for expected to be treated as an equal to Honda, despite not having its affairs in order.
While that’s thrown Nissan into a deeper lurch – last week announcing a net loss of ¥670.9 billion (A$7.1 billion) last financial year – an unexpected potential savior has emerged: Toyota.
Reports by Japanese publication Mainichi, subsequently reported by respected outlet Automotive News, claim an unnamed Toyota executive spoke with a high-ranking Nissan official about a potential partnership, following the collapse of the proposed Honda merger.
Neither Toyota nor Nissan have confirmed such talks happened.
It wouldn’t be out of the question, nor the norm, for Toyota to take a financial interest in one of its Japanese rivals.
Currently the world’s largest carmaker holds a 20 per cent share in Subaru, 5.1 per cent in Mazda, 4.9 per cent in Suzuki and 5.9 per cent in Isuzu. It’s also the parent of Hino and Daihatsu.
The proposed Honda-Nissan-Mitsubishi merger would’ve seen the Japanese car industry split into two, with Toyota and its partners on one side and the aforementioned trio on the other.
It’s worth noting that Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda has previously expressed his disappointment about the proposed merger, having told Automotive News in March that the announcement of the MoU lacked product details.
“At the press conference that followed, I was quite disappointed hearing what they talked about. Because they didn’t talk at all about the products,” Toyoda said.
“Do you know an example of where there was a consolidation of companies and they’ve made a big success for the competitiveness? Just having volume doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re strong.
“Short term, you may see some positive impacts. But long term, it can be quite difficult to come to a state where everyone says they’re glad they’ve combined.”
Following the collapse of the merger proposal, Nissan appointed a new CEO in Ivan Espinosa and laid out a future plan to keep itself alive by making aggressive cost savings through job cuts, plant closures and halting long-term R&D work.
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