Original bad review jun bad review X.PIN
Boy, it’s been a long time. Just as the domestic car circle was still eating the melons of the new forces, yesterday, the international counterparts sent another big news.
The pillar of the island country next door, the second and third largest automobile manufacturers, Nissan will merge with Honda!
This time, let alone domestic riders, riders all over the world are shocked and quickly start the whole job.
This stalk can even be seamlessly translated into Chinese, Nissan+Honda, so it’s Japan.
However, some Japanese netizens feel that this is due to the competition of China cars.
Then we can’t help it. It’s the original sin to compete for food in the market. Who told you that Nissan really couldn’t win these trams? . .
In fact, not only in China, but also in the United States, Nissan’s sales are declining year by year, and trams are not expected to beat Tesla at home.
The report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on 17th also said that this was to cope with the competition from Tesla and BYD in China.
Although the main reason for everyone’s speculation is almost this, after the bad reviewer went to the plate, he found that there are actually many melons behind this matter.
First of all, although the two officially announced that they were going to merge yesterday, people really didn’t make a decision on their heads.
As early as 2019, when Abe was still at work, the Japanese government intended to "match" Nissan with Honda.
In 2020, the British media also revealed that the Japanese government was worried that the electrification of various countries would be too fierce, and Japanese oil trucks would slowly lose their advantages and be eliminated, so they wanted to unite the two.
After all, it is nothing new for car companies to cooperate with each other in Japan. Toyota, Suzuki and Mazda all have cross-shareholdings, and even Nissan itself has a Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, and Renault is Nissan’s largest shareholder;
On the other hand, the Japanese government also wants Honda, which is more profitable, to "take a brother with him", because Honda has a relatively large technical reserve, and he is the only bachelor in the Japanese car factory now, and has never been associated with other external enterprises.
However, Nissan, who was in the name of neon, may have wanted to join at that time, but both sides denied the rumors of the merger for the first time.
Nissan said, I have a good relationship with Renault, so don’t poach; Honda is probably used to doing everything by itself, from motorcycles to aircraft engines. Why do you need to bring Nissan this drag bottle when you have nothing to do?
For example, Nissan is like a weak princess and social butterfly who is married, while Honda is like a pure straight man of science and technology.
For Honda, a straight man, people probably think so frankly. Competition for food in the market is the original sin. Why should I take you with you? So I refused to merge directly.
But on Nissan’s side, it may not be true.
First, the relationship within the alliance began to be tense. Since the arrest of the chairman in 2018, the relationship between Renault and Nissan has gradually alienated, as if it had entered a cooling-off period of divorce.
Secondly, the performance of Nissan itself in the global market has been relatively weak in recent years, and its operating profit in fiscal year 2023 was less than 1 trillion yen, far lower than that of Toyota and Honda.
At this time, Renault, the major shareholder, had other intentions.
In 2023, Renault joined hands with Geely to set up a joint venture company to study internal combustion engine technology and expand the global market.
Renault’s gradual departure has brought Nissan two news, one bad and one good.
The bad news is that Nissan has been rejected, and Nissan itself is getting worse and worse. The financial report data in these two years is even a bit cracked.
From April to September 2024, Nissan’s operating profit was only 32.9 billion yen, down 90% year-on-year, while its net profit was only 19.2 billion yen, down 94% year-on-year. This year’s annual profit will be 70% lower than expected. . .
The good news is that Renault has agreed to gradually reduce its shareholding in Nissan from 44.4% to 15%, which gives Nissan a greater say in decision-making and makes Nissan more independent in the matter of "selling itself".
The arrest of Nissan Chairman Ghosn announced the reform of corporate governance in Japan.
However, although Honda, a straight man, once despised Nissan and Renault became love rat, it doesn’t mean that people really don’t want it.
Foxconn’s parent company, Hon Hai Precision Industry, revealed some time ago that it intends to acquire a majority stake in Nissan, not only to take over the princess in distress, but also to take over the whole project.
According to some reports, Hon Hai not only wants to acquire Nissan’s factories and equipment, but also plans to acquire all Nissan’s businesses, including models such as Pathfinder, Sentra sedan and GTR supercar.
Guan Run, chief strategist of Hon Hai, who is in charge of this acquisition, is not unknown.
This person has served in Nissan for 33 years and held important positions including executive director, president of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. and senior vice president of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. It can be said that he is deeply tied to Nissan.
What’s more dramatic is that Guan Run turned to join Foxconn after failing to run for CEO of Nissan in 2020, so this looks like a revenge plan.
Hon Hai Technology Ri Guanrun responded to media questions.
However, although Hon Hai’s idea is beautiful, it is not smooth in practice. Hon Hai previously expressed his willingness to buy Nissan directly, but people did not agree.
Although Nissan is indeed discussing anti-takeover measures in private to ensure the independence and future development of the company, it may also be possible to show it to Honda as a bargaining chip and deliberately stimulate Honda to accelerate the relationship between the two parties.
On the other hand, the indomitable Hon Hai has put his mind on Renault, the major shareholder, and started to prepare to discuss with Renault in France.
Perhaps it was when I saw that my princess, who was crowned with neon, was going to be married by foreigners soon, and she was still a newcomer in the automobile circle. At this time, Honda just came to her senses and was anxious.
After all, Honda and Nissan, two childhood friends, have been dragging their feet on the merger for several years, and even signed a memorandum this year to cooperate in procurement, battery motors and software.
In August, he also said that he would continue to deepen cooperation and share key components such as operating system motors and inverters.
As a result, it came out of the sky halfway, and with the addition of fetters, Brother Qingmei estimated that it would really break the defense. Therefore, Hon Hai’s intervention may actually become a key boost to accelerate the merger of the two companies.
So Honda first declared its sovereignty and warned that if Nissan cooperated with Hon Hai, Honda would terminate its strategic software partnership with Nissan, and the cooperation between the two sides would all be zero in recent years.
Then Honda began to consider playing the role of "white knight" to protect Nissan, that is, intervening through friendly acquisition to prevent Hon Hai’s hostile acquisition.
Honda President Mihiro Sanbu told Japanese media that the company and Nissan are discussing various possibilities including business integration. He personally thinks that the merger is possible, but no decision has been made yet.
In addition, it is also possible for Mitsubishi to merge, because Nissan is currently the largest shareholder of Mitsubishi Motors, so Sanbu Minhong also said that it is possible to include Mitsubishi Motors.
However, if Nissan and Honda really come true, a company with a market value of 54 billion US dollars will be formed after the merger, with an annual output of 8.13 million vehicles, making it the third largest automobile group in the world, second only to Toyota and Volkswagen.
It looks beautiful, but this thing is actually not optimistic.
Although Renault was a "white knight" in 1999 and saved Nissan from bankruptcy, what Honda can bring to Nissan today may only be a glimmer of life. Even if the official announces that it will merge, it is hard to say whether Nissan can survive until that day.
Due to the shortage of funds, there are still more than 100 billion debts due. Last month, Nissan also announced that it would lay off 9,000 people, and the CEO voluntarily cut the salary by 50% and cut the global production capacity by 20%. However, the profit margin of the automobile industry is relatively fixed, and it is difficult for sales to skyrocket in the short term, so it is not difficult to predict how long the cash flow will last.
According to the Financial Times, an executive admitted in the conversation that the remaining funds in Nissan’s account can only last for 12-14 months at most.
Now, the merger of the two companies is only in the early stage, and a holding company is being considered, but it is not known how long it will take to finalize all the details and realize Nissan’s redemption.
In the eyes of the Japanese media and the masses, this merger can only be regarded as a difficult self-help, so that they can have the opportunity to serve in the new era.
For example, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun wrote, "The expansion of this scale will enable the new company to have stronger market competitiveness and cost competitiveness, and help to cope with the competition between Tesla and China electric vehicle manufacturers ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
However, the bad reviewer thinks that it is not easy for Nissan to save itself, and it is even more difficult to deal with Tesla and China electric vehicles as the media said.
After all, the sales of the two companies in the field of electric vehicles have fallen behind their Chinese and American counterparts, and it is difficult to gain a late-comer advantage. If you really want to make a tram, it may be a better way to cooperate with China’s supply chain.
In a word, although trams have already started the knockout stage in the automobile industry, those fuel vehicles that have failed to follow up the transformation and are difficult to maintain their heads are also in the cold winter.
Honda Nissan is more like holding a group to keep warm than fighting together.
However, according to the idea of the Japanese government in those days, the real purpose of this merger may be to combine the advantages of Honda and Nissan, reduce their respective costs, and compete for the position of the lean camel as the head of the fuel truck bigger than the horse.
Written by Naxi
Editor: Jiang Jiang & Top Thread & Neck Twist Right
American editor: Xuan Xuan
Pictures and data sources:
Nissan Auto Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. and Honda Technology Research Industry Co., Ltd.: Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda, Honda,
Nihon Keizai Shimbun: EV competition, Japan’s merger, Nissan and the coming week’s integration agreement.
Nihon Keizai Shimbun: ホンダをでをでのソフトももででののののもののの.
Financial Times: Nissan seeks anchor investor to help it through make-or-break 12 months
Financial Times: Consolidate to survive: what the Nissan-Honda merger talks mean for Japan Inc
Financial Times: Nissan and Honda hold merger talks
澎湃: Hon Hai was exposed to be interested in purchasing a majority stake in Nissan, or indirectly promoting the merger of Honda and Nissan.
Tencent News, Whip Cowboy, Sina Finance, etc., part of the source network.