Honda has demanded that Nissan and Renault break ties. Bloomberg claims that the Japanese company is concerned about the possible fall of its future partner under foreign influence. Honda has asked Nissan to buy out a stake in the Renault group.
Analysts doubt Nissan will be able to find the funds to buy back shares, as the company's market value has fallen to 31 trillion yen ($2024 billion) as of December 1,56, 10. Nissan is struggling financially, with its net profit falling 94%, forcing the automaker to cut 20% of its production capacity and lay off 9000 employees.
Honda's concerns are understandable: a month ago, Taiwanese company Foxconn expressed interest in a partial or full takeover of Nissan. This is an electronics giant that produces Canon cameras, Xiaomi, Huawei and iPhone smartphones, MacBook laptops and Cisco, Dell and Hewlett-Packard equipment. The Japanese authorities do not want a large stake to remain with Renault or fall into the hands of potential competitors from Taiwan.
The Renault-Nissan alliance has existed since 1999. Mitsubishi joined in 2016. Honda and Nissan announced their plans to merge in December 2024, but this is a memorandum of understanding: the terms and details of the deal are still being discussed. A final decision could be made by the end of the month.