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Recently, the Nikkei News first reported that Mitsubishi Motors will joinHondaandNissanThe electric vehicle alliance that was previously formed enabled cooperation between the three major manufacturers.

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Mitsubishi moves toward Nissan and Honda

It seems to be a natural thing for Mitsubishi to join the cooperation camp of Nissan and Honda. As we all know, Mitsubishi isRenault-Part of the Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, in which Nissan holds a 34% stake, while Honda and Nissan are Japan's second and third largest automakers respectively.

On March 15 this year, Nissan and Honda announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding to launch comprehensive cooperation in the field of electric vehicles, including the production of electric vehicle-related parts, the development of automotive software and artificial intelligence, and especially the realization of universalization in the field of in-vehicle software. Nissan and Honda hope to reduce costs through resource integration and enhance the competitiveness of their products in response to China's electric vehicles.

Now, Mitsubishi's participation is seen as a sign that Japanese automakers are accelerating their alliance under the wave of electrification and intelligence. Since the development of new software systems requires huge R&D expenses, the three automakers plan to reduce costs through cooperation and transfer operating resources to other electrification fields.

In terms of sales volume, Honda's global sales in fiscal 2023 (April 2023-March 2024) will be 4.11 million vehicles, and Nissan's will be 3.44 million vehicles. If Mitsubishi's 810,000 vehicles are added, the sales volume of this camp will exceed 8 million vehicles.

On the other hand, Toyota, Japan's largest automaker, has been making alliances in Japan, signing cooperation agreements with Mazda, Suzuki and Subaru. At the end of May this year, the heads of Toyota, Mazda and Subaru made a rare joint appearance, promising to continue investing in internal combustion engine technology and to help decarbonize internal combustion engines by combining them with electrification technology and making them compatible with green alternative fuels such as biofuels and synthetic fuels. In addition, in the field of electrification, Mazda, Suzuki and Subaru all have partnerships with Toyota to jointly develop electric vehicles with the help of Toyota's technology.

As for the scale, in fiscal 2023, Toyota Motor (including Hino and Daihatsu) will sell approximately 11.09 million vehicles worldwide. Together with Suzuki Motor's 3.16 million vehicles, Mazda's 1.24 million vehicles, and Subaru's 920,000 vehicles, the camp's sales volume will exceed 16 million vehicles.

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The industry is accelerating to keep warm together

Mitsubishi's alliance with Nissan and Honda also highlights the huge pressure faced by Japanese automakers. The Nikkei Shimbun pointed out that the reason why Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi joined forces was due to the sense of crisis brought about by the great transformation of the automotive industry. Globally, the automotive industry is transforming from fuel vehicles to electric vehicles. Against this background, emerging forces are rising, while Japanese automakers are lagging behind.Tesla、BYDDue to its limited ability to fight alone, it had to adjust its expansion route and reshuffle and reorganize in Japan.

In addition, from the perspective of operating performance, just a few days ago, Nissan Motor released its quarterly financial report for April-June. The sharp discounts in the US market almost wiped out Nissan's profits in that quarter. Coupled with the downward revision of annual performance expectations, Nissan's stock price plummeted.

At the same time, Japanese automakers are also struggling in China, the world's largest new car market. For this reason, Nissan announced in June this year that it would officially close its Changzhou, Jiangsu,Dongfeng MotorThe joint venture passenger car factory has an annual production capacity of about 130,000 vehicles, accounting for about 10% of Nissan's total production in China. Then on July 26, Honda China announced the optimization of production capacity and confirmed that it would close two of the seven vehicle production lines in China. After the adjustment, Honda's total automobile production capacity in China was reduced from 1.49 million vehicles to 1.2 million vehicles. However, Honda also emphasized that it would further accelerate the transformation to electrification in China. The new Dongfeng Honda electric-only factory under construction will be put into production in September, and the new GAC Honda new energy factory will be put into production in November.

Of course, banding together for support is not unique to Japanese automakers. For example,Changan AutomobileHolding Handsauspicious, Volkswagen GroupXpeng Motors, Stellantis joins handsLeapmotor，BenzandBMWBuilding charging networks in China, etc. Behind such frequent and large-scale alliances is the increasingly fierce industry changes and competition. Car companies need to join forces to overcome difficulties.