How would Renault fit into the picture? Renault owns a lot of Nissan stock and has an alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi. Would Honda become part of the alliance or would the alliance be dissolved? Here’s another article that supposes Renault might be part of the merger more directly than as an owner of Nissan stock.
I am not sure how I feel about this.
Will Honda lift Nissan up? Or will Nissan drag Honda under?
What I do believe is that the Renault-Nissan tie up was like oil and water… the two did not mix well!
Not sure what the global strengths of Honda and Nissan are and how Mitsubishi fits in. Mitsubishi is strong in Asia-Pacific, Honda is stronger in North America than in Japan. Nissan is still strong in Japan, I think. Nissan in Europe, maybe? Which of the three is strong in South America?
The problem isn’t that Nissan vehicles aren’t selling well, it’s that new vehicles in general aren’t selling well. A large percentage of the customer base simply cannot afford the sticker prices, and those who could afford it have already bought, and aren’t looking to upgrade anytime soon. Those who can’t afford current prices are being forced to keep old cars on the road much longer than they intended. Neither trend bodes well for automakers.
I was wondering about that too. I’ve worked for a company during an acquisition. Prior to the sale we were 40% owned by a hedge-fund and 60% owned by the original owners. Another hedge-fund comes along and buys the whole company. They wanted to own the whole company, so they had to buy the 40% from the hedge-fund.
You live in a different part of the country then everyone else. New vehicle sales are still very strong and have been strong since Covid. We’ve been looking for a car to replace my wifes 07 Lexus. Prices are still going ABOVE MSRP for most vehicles. I refuse to pay that. Lexus is still running great, but it’s seeing some signs of age.
Keep searching for a reasonable dealership!
At the height of the Pandemic, when every Lexus dealer in NJ was adding $5k to the sticker price, I drove 70 miles to the dealership in Allentown, PA, which doesn’t play those games.
In addition to not having to pay that extra $5k, they offered me so much more for my trade-in that I wound-up saving more than $7k. I think that driving 70 miles to save $7k was a good use of my time.
I have…about 10 of them.
Nissan has traditionally been one of the few manufacturers offering some manual transmission configurations. So that would be my main worry, a combined Honda/Nissan might totally discontinue the manual trans option through-out the world.
Here is a list of the 2024 models that can be configured with a manual transmission:
- Acura Integra
- Aston Martin Valour
- BMW M2
- BMW M3
- BMW M4
- BMW Z4
- Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing
- Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing
- Chevrolet Camaro
- Ford Mustang
- Honda Civic
- Hyundai Elantra N
- Kia Forte
- Lotus Emira
- Mazda 3
- Mazda MX-5 Miata
- Mini Hardtop and Convertible
- Nissan Versa
- Nissan Z
- Porsche 718
- Porsche 911
- Subaru BRZ
- Subaru WRX
- Toyota GR86
- Toyota GR Corolla
- Toyota GR Supra
- Volkswagen Golf
- Volkswagen Jetta
If you include Acura, Honda has the same number of models (2) with an available manual trans as Nissan does. VW & Subaru also have two, and Toyota has 3 models that can be had with stick shift.
Many of those are performance cars. My fault, I wasn’t clear, I meant to refer to a seeming dearth of manual trans equipped base-model for the budget-minded econobox cars.
In that case, Honda and Nissan are equal, with one “economy” model each, along with Mazda, Kia, and Hyundai.
Honda does not sell an economy Civic with a manual transmission. The Type R is the only one with a manual. The others all have CVTs.
That’s my understanding as well.
If I was Honda I would not even consider Nissan
Just curious why not? Honda would be gaining quite a bit just by increasing their economy of scale, sharing parts procurement and storage, opportunity to get a lower price from vendors, customer lists, warranty service, etc. I don’t see much downside from Honda’s point of view. Nissan might worry they’ll get bulldozed by the honda organization though.
I generally consider Honda vehicles to be good . . . whereas I generally consider today’s Nissan vehicles to be subpar
This might not be such a great deal for Honda . . . ?
I see plenty of potential downside for Honda
+1
I hope Honda doesn’t merge with Nissan…