Over the weekend, Nissan and Honda announced that they plan to co-develop electric vehicles to try and combat low-cost models from China.
Both Japanese carmakers have signed a “memorandum of understanding” that they will use to investigate the feasibility of developing EV platforms, core components, and software together.
“It is important to prepare for the increasing pace of transformation in mobility in the mid-to-long-term, and it is significant that we have reached this agreement based on a mutual understanding that Honda and Nissan face common challenges,” said Makoto Uchida, president and CEO of Nissan.
Those “common challenges” Uchida is referring to no doubt include the rise of rival brands from China, such as BYD which overtook Tesla to become the world’s largest producer of EVs in 2023.
Locally, other Chinese brands like Great Wall Motor (GWM) and new entrant Omoda are also looking to take their slice of the pie and eat away at Japanese manufacturers’ long-held reign.
“In this period of once-in-a-century transformation in the automotive industry, we will examine the potential for partnership between Nissan and Honda,” Toshihiro Mibe, Honda director, president, and representative executive officer.
“Our study criteria will be whether the synergy of the technologies and knowledge that our companies have cultivated will enable us to become industry leaders by creating new value for the automotive industry.”
Collaboration is no stranger to Honda as it has been working with America’s General Motors to launch its first electric SUV, the Prologue, later this year.
It also had plans to develop an affordable electric car with GM, those of which have now been scrapped.
Nevertheless, the potential partnership with Nissan looks encouraging and so it should if both brands plan to go toe-to-toe with China.
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