Former Nissan chairman criticizes Honda’s potential merger, calling it a desperate move that lacks industrial logic or real synergies
December 21, 2024 07:44
- Former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn called the brand’s potential merger with Honda an “act of desperation.”
- The two automakers are reportedly in talks as Nissan grapples with what it publicly calls “emergency mode.”
- Ghosn appears to have inside knowledge of what’s really going on behind the scenes at Nissan.
Nissan is in dire straits right now, and it’s not getting any better. The CEO declared the automaker was in “emergency mode,” signaling a company-wide crisis. In response, Nissan plans to cut 9,000 jobs, delay upcoming product launches and try to find new financial backers to stabilize its operations. As if that wasn’t enough, the company appears to be exploring a merger with Honda.
Former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn also weighs in on the story, and yes, he staged a Hollywood-style escape from Japan in a box in 2019 and is now living in self-imposed exile in Lebanon life. According to him, this situation is causing big trouble for Nissan, and Honda is clearly in no rush to intervene.
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“This is a desperate move,” Ghosn said on Bloomberg Television on Friday. “It’s not a pragmatic deal because, frankly, it’s hard to find synergies between the two companies. There’s really no complementary (relationship) between the two companies. They’re in the same market. They’re the same product. The brands are very similar.”
“So, in a sense, Nissan is making a desperate move to try to find a future,” Ghosn continued. “And looking at it from the other side, Honda, if I understand it well, they were very concerned about this move. Not very excited, but, you know, you have to rely on the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.”
He was referring to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Essentially, Ghosn believes METI is pressuring Honda to get the deal done because it will ultimately keep one of Japan’s biggest brands alive. In fact, he puts it more succinctly on the record.
“Having lived in Japan for so many years, I understand how influential the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is,” Ghosn explained. “In my opinion, it doesn’t have any industrial logic, but sometimes you have to choose between performance and control. Obviously, if you can have both, it’s better. But there are times when you have to make The choice, no doubt about it, is that with METI and everything I’ve learned from it, they prefer control over performance, so there’s no question that they pushed Honda into this deal.”
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While it would be easy to dismiss Ghosn’s comments as a ousted and disgraced CEO speaking bitterly about his former employer, it turns out he at least has some insight into the overall situation. Back in August, he made it clear that the deal between Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi was a “disguised acquisition” by Honda of the other two. Although there is no smoke in the idea of Honda acquiring Mitsubishi, it is clear that this deal involving Nissan makes Ghosn look a bit like Nostradamus.
Still, the two brands would have some big work ahead of them if they merged. “You need to understand that Honda is an engineering organization and it is very strong on the engineering side. Nissan is very proud of its own engineering. So the battle here is to try and decide which technologies will be adopted by the new company (if it is a merger) or the new alliance .I can tell you it’s going to be very difficult,” Ghosn said.
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