News on March 15th: What has turned former rivals into allies? There must be shared interests or common enemies driving this alliance.
Recently, Nissan and Honda announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding. According to this memorandum, both parties will embark on cooperation in the field of electric vehicles, covering electrification, intelligence, software platforms, and core components related to electric vehicles.
Makoto Uchida, CEO of Nissan, stated: "Addressing the rapidly accelerating transformation in the mobility sector is crucial. The agreement reached based on our understanding of the common challenges we face is significant. We look forward to further discussions and strive to achieve a sustainable win-win situation."
Toshihiro Mibe, CEO of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., commented: "In this once-in-a-century transformation period for the automotive industry, we will explore potential collaboration opportunities between Nissan and Honda, leveraging the accumulated technologies and knowledge of both parties to become leaders in creating new value in automobiles."
According to reports, Nissan is considering collaborating with Honda to develop more affordable electric vehicle technology. The main aim of this collaboration is to lower the price of electric cars, targeting Chinese automakers like BYD, which offer low-cost models. BYD holds a significant cost advantage as it produces almost all of its car components in-house.
Sources suggest that Nissan may discuss joint development of batteries and electric vehicles with Honda. One option is to jointly procure a common electric vehicle powertrain, while another option is to collaborate on designing and manufacturing a shared electric vehicle platform.
