In an aerial photo, brand new Honda cars are seen on the Honda Marin dealership lot on February 6, 2024 in San Rafael, California. Honda announced the recall of 750,000 vehicles in the United States due to an airbag defect that could cause the airbags to deploy unintentionally in a collision.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Nissan engine Shares rose sharply on Wednesday after media reports that the Japanese automaker is seeking a merger with Honda.
Nissan shares were last up 20%, while Honda shares were down 2%.
According to a report in Nikkei newspaper, Honda and Nissan are considering operating under a holding company and will soon sign a memorandum of understanding. According to the report, they also want to eventually bring Mitsubishi Motors, in which Nissan is the main shareholder with a 24% stake, under the holding company.
According to Nikkei, the combined Nissan-Honda-Mitsubishi company would be equivalent to more than 8 million vehicle sales annually. That would place the company among the world's largest automakers, but still behind Japanese automaker Toyota Motor, with 11.2 million in 2023, and German automaker Volkswagen, which reported sales of 9.2 million vehicles last year.
The merger report follows the two Japanese automakers entering into a strategic partnership for shared automotive components and software earlier this year.
Such a merger would be the automotive industry's largest merger since Fiat Chrysler merged with France-based PSA Groupe to form Stellantis in January 2021.
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– Michael Wayland contributed to this report.
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