The drama doesn’t seem to quite end, even after the Honda-Nissan merger fallout. Not even a week later after the official announcement, Financial Times reports that there is a possibility that Honda is open to resume talks of the merger deal. The catch? According to “people with knowledge of the deliberations”, it could only happen if Nissan CEO Makota Uchida steps down.
Originally, Uchida had strongly pushed for the Honda-Nissan merger to happen. However, things ultimately fell apart as Honda was reportedly frustrated with “the speed of Nissan’s restructuring and the depth of its financial troubles”, reported Financial Times.
Uchida said that he will remain as Nissan’s CEO until 2026, when his contract term runs out. However, the Nissan boss may realistically only have a few months left due to overwhelming pressure from Nissan board members and Renault. One person was reported saying that Nissan’s board of directors are secretly in talks about the timing of his exit from the company.
Uchida added that he will only step down once Nissan is on the road to recovery, but will leave his position at a much earlier timeframe if asked.
A major reason behind Honda’s interest in Nissan lies with the latter’s capital ties with Mitsubishi, particularly for its plug-in hybrid technology and strong footprint in Southeast Asia.
Honda CEO Toshiro Mibe says that he regrets the merger talks ending in a way it did. However, according to people familiar with Mibe’s thinking, a renewed bid is still possible, provided that Uchida steps down.
“If discussions about business integrations arise again, we will not completely rule out the possibility of resuming the discussions,” Honda said.
At this present time, Nissan is in panic mode to find its next potential partner to ensure the carmaker’s survival. Foxconn stands as a strong contender to be considered for partnership, the Taiwanese company is still interested in acquiring Nissan’s shares and contracts to build electric vehicles (EV) as Foxtron.
Renault is also reconsidering its options as talks reopen with Foxconn in selling a portion of Nissan’s shares to them, which Nissan couldn’t buy back from them due to an exorbitant premium charged by Renault.
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