Honda-Nissan merger: Top 5 merger and acquisitions that shook automotive world
- Here is a look at the five major automotive amalgamations that shook the world. While some of these became successful associations, some failed.
Honda Cars and Nissan Motor, two of the global auto majors are all set to join hands to form the world's third-largest car manufacturer group. Honda and Nissan, along with another Japanese auto giant Mitsubishi have already started discussions to set up a new holding company, an alliance under which the three automakers will make cars for the global market.
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The primary aim behind the formation of this alliance is to tackle the growing challenges of Chinese carmakers, especially in the electric car segment. In the last few years, Chinese automakers like BYD, Nio etc have emerged as major players challenging the other global automakers.
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With the formation of this new automotive alliance, car manufacturers like Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi are aiming to step up their game in the coming years. Also, this has brought the automotive joint ventures under the limelight. Here is a look at the five major automotive amalgamations that shook the world. While some of these became successful associations, some failed.
Stellantis remained one of the largest automobile manufacturing groups since its formation in 2021 via the merger of Italian–American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the French PSA Group. As of 2023, Stellantis was the world's fourth-largest automaker group by sales, behind Toyota, Volkswagen Group, and Hyundai Motor Group. The Stellantis group owns the major carmaker brands such as Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram Trucks, and Vauxhall. During the time of the merger, Stellantis had around 300,000 employees, manufacturing facilities in 30 countries and a sales presence in more than 130 countries.
Suzuki and Toyota didn't form a joint venture but joined hands to collaborate on a number of projects. Toyota Motor Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding for a business alliance in 2017, under which the two companies agreed to share vehicle architectures, specific models and technologies, especially in the field of electric mobility with each other. India has been playing a key role in this alliance, where Toyota sells rebranded Maruti Suzuki cars like Glanza, Urban Cruiser Taisor, Rumion, and Urban Cruiser Hyryder. On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki sells Invicto, which is a rebranded Toyota car.
Renault and Nissan joined hands in 1999 to form Renault-Nissan Alliance, which became a major automotive joint venture globally. It was formed at a time when the global auto industry was in a period of rapid consolidation. Several auto companies including the Daimler-Chrysler merger shook the world. In the Renault-Nissan Alliance, the French auto giant bought 36.8 per cent of Nissan's outstanding stock for $3.5 billion and the Japanese auto OEM vowed to buy into Renault when it was financially able. In 2001, after the company's turnaround from near-bankruptcy, Nissan took a 15 per cent stake in Renault, which in turn increased its stake in Nissan to 43.4 per cent. Later in 2002, the Alliance witnessed 50-50 ownership by the two companies.
Mahindra and Ford announced a joint venture to drive growth and profitability in India and emerging markets in 2019. The aim of this joint venture was to develop, market and distribute Ford-branded cars in India as well as Ford and Mahindra-branded cars in high-growth emerging markets around the world. The joint venture was a key part of the strategic alliance forged between Ford and Mahindra in September 2017 and was expected to be operational by mid-2020. However, the joint venture was called off in 2021 and this alliance never took off.
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Mitsubishi joined the Renault-Nissan Alliance in 2016 when it was sailing through troubled times after the Japanese automaker admitted to falsifying fuel economy data. Also, Mitsubishi was facing plunging car sales. With the inclusion of Mitsubishi through the $2.3 billion deal, the Alliance became able to produce one crore vehicles per annum, grabbing third place in the automotive world, only behind Toyota Motors and Volkswagen Group and ahead of General Motors.
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