These three Japanese companies are thinking about joining forces, although they are not yet sure about it

Mergers and one-off collaborations between brands are quite common in the automotive industry. There has always been collaboration between them and, even if they are rival companies, there is always some room for collaboration. Now a new collaboration between major Japanese brands is being prepared, seeking to join forces to face the great challenges coming to the industry.

In this case, the companies are Honda, Mitsubishi and Nissan, three major manufacturers from Japan that want to join forces to become one of the great conglomerates of the industry on a global level. This possible alliance was forged in 2024, although at first the talks did not bear fruit. But that first failure was not the end.

The US market, the first collaboration

Although the three brands did not reach an agreement, they have agreed to collaborate on a one-off basis in several sectors of the industry. The United States market will be the first target of this new alliance. The joint project contemplates the supply of products for that country. They will also bring to that market the development of vehicle software and that of an electric transmission.

The president of Honda, Noriya Kaihara, has announced that work is underway in that direction, although there is nothing definitive yet. There are several practical problems for this alliance to succeed, at least for now. One of them is the line-up of the three companies, since the products each of them offers overlap and are not complementary.

However, there are moves that anticipate this collaboration in the United States. The Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid has been sold in the United States under the name Nissan Rogue PHEV. The next Nissan LEAF will reach that market under the Mitsubishi badge, so the first steps are being taken.

Negotiations continue, and their outcome could be a good boost to relaunch the sales of the three companies, which need a push to regain the market dominance they enjoyed not so long ago.