A tie-up between Nissan and Honda could solve one big problem for Nissan: a lack of hybrids.
That’s what dealers who spoke with Business Insider said last week amid reports that the Japanese automakers are in talks to create a new global auto goliath. This week, the automakers confirmed the chatter — saying they’re indeed in official merger talks. Mitsubishi Motors also is involved in the talks, the Monday statement from the companies said.
Nissan is one of the few automakers in the U. S. that doesn’t have a hybrid or plug-in hybrid offering; took the lead in EV sales with the Leaf in 2010.
This year, car buyers have turned away from electric cars in favor of hybrid models, leaving Nissan with unpopular and unprofitable battery-powered offerings in the Leaf and Ariya SUVs.
Nissan dealerships have faced a drop in sales throughout the year, especially for the brand’s bestseller, the Rogue. Once the segment leader, the Rogue saw sales drop 10% in the first nine months of the year from the same time last year, according to corporate data. data.
And dealers say they are wasting consumers with Honda and Toyota, which offer hybrid versions of their CR-V and RAV4 SUVs, respectively.
A broker at Nissan and Honda retail outlets says it’s “painfully obvious” that Nissan is wasting consumers in favor of brands that offer more hybrids. It was not necessary to identify the broker, but BI showed his identity.
It’s common, he says, for a Nissan customer to migrate to the Honda shop after learning there are no hybrids.
Following disappointing sales results in the first quarter, Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida acknowledged the hybrid blind spot, saying during an earnings press conference that until last year, Nissan wasn’t able to predict the rapid rise in demand for hybrids. The company has said it’s shifting efforts toward hybrid offerings, but dealers and automotive-industry experts say that change could take years.
Meanwhile, Honda is riding the hybrid wave this year as customers gravitate toward the hybrid versions of the CR-V SUV and Civic sedan. Just this month, Honda said it had plans to double its global hybrid sales to 1.3 million vehicles by 2030, aiming to create a “bridge” to EV adoption.
Some dealers are wary of a new global auto merger.
Adam Lee, a Maine broker for several major brands including Nissan, Honda and Chrysler, said he’s cynical about the promised “synergies” after experiencing several mergers as a Chrysler broker.
“Show me a merger where there were synergies and I’ll show you everything that doesn’t exist,” Lee said. “I try to give them the edge of the doubt, but I tend to be cynical about this kind of thing. “
The Chrysler-owner Stellantis is in the middle of a tough transition right now, as the CEO who led the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA stepped down suddenly at the start of the month. Before that, Chrysler lived through a messy marriage with Germany’s Daimler in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Lee said Nissan could probably use it with hybrids and other plug-in models, but added: “You don’t necessarily need to merge to do that. “
Jump to