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Source: Global Times

[Global Times Special Correspondent Li Hao] According to a report by the Nikkei on the 29th, Japan's Mitsubishi Motors will join the Honda-Nissan Automobile Alliance. By then, the giant automobile group's global annual total sales will exceed 8 million vehicles, and two major camps competing with the Toyota Automobile Alliance will be formed in Japan.

It is reported that Honda and Nissan revealed in March this year that they were considering cooperation in electric vehicle parts and automotive software platform artificial intelligence. Mitsubishi Motors will participate in the Honda-Nissan Auto Alliance this time, and the three automakers plan to work together to improve their competitiveness in order to survive.

Mitsubishi Motors and the Honda-Nissan Alliance have signed a confidentiality agreement and started discussions. Honda's global sales in fiscal 2023 (ending March 2024) are 4.07 million vehicles, and Nissan's are 3.44 million vehicles, ranking second and third in Japan respectively. If Mitsubishi Motors' 810,000 vehicles are added, the alliance will have about 8.33 million vehicles.

In Japan, Toyota, the largest automaker, has formed an alliance with Daihatsu Industries, Suzuki, Subaru and Mazda, with total annual passenger car sales reaching about 16 million units.

Mitsubishi Motors will determine the details of its cooperation with Honda and Nissan in the future, and plans to achieve commonality among the three automakers in the field of vehicle-mounted software that controls vehicles. Nissan and Honda are believed to jointly develop an operating system (OS) and will discuss using it in Mitsubishi Motors vehicles.

According to an analysis by Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun on the 28th, competition in the development of software-defined vehicles (SDVs) is also very fierce, and improving efficiency through cooperation has become a topic. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun also stated that although in-vehicle software is related to the competitiveness of the new generation of models, it requires huge development costs. The formation of an alliance will reduce costs while introducing high-performance technologies and transferring business resources to other electrification fields.

In addition, Honda does not produce plug-in hybrid vehicles and pickup trucks in Japan. The alliance may discuss providing OEM (original equipment manufacturer) services to Mitsubishi Motors, which has advantages in this field.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that the reason why Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi joined forces is due to the sense of crisis brought about by the great transformation of the automotive industry. Globally, in order to achieve decarbonization, cars are transforming from fuel vehicles to pure electric vehicles. Against this background, emerging forces are rising, and Japanese companies are lagging behind their competitors. From the perspective of global EV sales in 2023, Nissan will have 140,000 vehicles, Honda will have 19,000 vehicles, while Tesla will have 1.8 million vehicles and China's BYD will have 1.57 million vehicles. In addition, Tesla has invested heavily in the field of electric vehicles, and Japanese automakers have limited ability to fight alone, so Honda and Nissan have to adjust their expansion routes and reshuffle and reorganize domestically.

Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao commented on the 29th that the cooperation between Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi can help Japanese automakers cut costs and strengthen their strength to cope with the fierce competition in the electric vehicle field from China's BYD and the United States' Tesla.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun stated that in the future, when electric vehicles build supply networks for semiconductors, charging stations, etc., Mitsubishi may need to cooperate with companies other than automakers. It will be crucial whether it can quickly cooperate with companies in other industries from the same perspective.