[News] Mitsubishi Motors Reportedly Won’t Join Honda-Nissan Integration, Focusing on Southeast Asia Growth

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According to a report from Liberty Times, citing Yomiuri Shimbun, Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. announced in late 2024 that they were entering discussions on a potential integration, aiming to establish a new joint venture company by 2026. Since Nissan holds a 24% stake in Mitsubishi Motors, Mitsubishi’s future course of action has attracted considerable attention.

However, sources cited in Yomiuri Shimbun reveal that Mitsubishi is leaning toward maintaining its current structure and refraining from joining the merger. As noted by Yomiuri Shimbun, Mitsubishi Motors plans to retain its publicly listed status while focusing on expanding its market share in Southeast Asia, where it holds significant strength.

Unlike Honda and Nissan, which primarily focus on the U.S. market, Mitsubishi has a strong presence in Southeast Asia, giving it a unique strategic advantage, as the report points out.

In 2016, Mitsubishi Motors faced a fuel efficiency data falsification scandal, which resulted in severe financial difficulties, as the report notes. At that time, Nissan acquired approximately 34% of Mitsubishi’s shares. However, as the report highlights, Nissan sold 10% of its stake last year, reducing its ownership to 24%, though it remains Mitsubishi’s largest shareholder.

The report highlights that as of January 23, Mitsubishi Motors’ market capitalization stood at approximately JPY 700 billion, much smaller than Honda’s JPY 7.9 trillion and Nissan’s JPY 1.6 trillion. This disparity has raised concerns that Mitsubishi might find it difficult to have its interests reflected in the management decisions of a joint holding company if it were to join the integration.

Collaboration Without Full Integration

As indicated in the Yomiuri Shimbun report, Mitsubishi Motors believes it can continue collaborating with Honda and Nissan through technical partnerships and vehicle supply agreements without rushing into an integration. The report states that this is particularly relevant in areas such as next-generation vehicles, including Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), and autonomous driving technologies, where even Honda and Nissan find it difficult to bear the massive development costs alone.

Global Sales Rankings

As per Yomiuri Shimbun, Honda and Nissan’s combined global vehicle sales in 2023 reached 7.35 million units. Even if Mitsubishi Motors (which sold 780,000 units in 2023) does not join the integration, the merged group would still become the world’s third-largest automotive group, trailing only Toyota Motor Group (11.23 million units) and Volkswagen Group (9.23 million units).

According to TrendForce, in 2023, Honda and Nissan ranked 7th and 8th globally in vehicle sales, respectively. However, in the first three quarters of 2024, BYD surpassed Nissan to become the 8th largest automaker, closing in on Honda in 7th place.

Read more

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• Diverging Electrification Goals between Honda and Nissan; Accelerated Resource Integration will be the Top Priority Post-Merger, Says TrendForce

(Photo credit: Mitsubishi)