TOKYO (AP) 鈥� Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda say they plan to share components for electric vehicles like batteries and jointly research software for autonomous driving.
A third Japanese manufacturer, Mitsubishi Motors Corp., has joined the Nissan-Honda partnership, sharing the view that speed and size are crucial in responding to dramatic changes in the auto industry centered around electrification.
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After 100 days of talks, executives of the companies evinced a sense of urgency. Japanese automakers dominated the era of gasoline engines in recent decades but have fallen behind formidable new players in green cars like Tesla of the U.S. and China鈥檚 BYD.
鈥淐ompanies that don鈥檛 adapt to the changes cannot survive,鈥� said Honda Chief Executive Toshihiro Mibe. 鈥淚f we try to do everything on our own, we cannot catch up.鈥�
and will use the same batteries and adopt the same specifications for motors and inverters for EV axels, they said.
By coming together in what Mibe and counterpart at Nissan, Makoto Uchida, repeatedly called 鈥渕aking friends鈥� to achieve economies of scale, the companies plan more strategic investments in technology and aim to cut costs by boosting volume.
Each company will continue to produce and offer its own model offerings. But they will share resources in areas like components and software development, where 鈥渕aking friends鈥� will be a plus, Mibe and Uchida told reporters.
They declined to say whether the friendship will extend to a mutual capital ownership, while noting that wasn鈥檛 ruled out.
The two companies also agreed to have their model lineups 鈥渕utually complement鈥� each other in various global markets, including both internal combustion engine vehicles and EVs. Details on that are being worked out, the companies said.
Honda and Nissan will also work together on energy services in Japan. Under Thursday鈥檚 announcements, Mitsubishi will join as a third member.
, Japan鈥檚 top automaker, is not part of the three-way collaboration.
Although Honda and Nissan have very different corporate cultures, it became clear, as their discussions on working together continued, their engineers and other workers on the ground have a lot in common, Uchida said.
鈥淪peed is the most crucial element, considering our size,鈥� he added.
Uchida and Mibe repeatedly stressed speed, openly admitting is moving very quickly, but they said there was still time to catch up and remain in the game.
鈥淚n coming together, we will show that one plus one will add up to become more than two,鈥� Uchida said.
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Yuri Kageyama is on X:
Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press
