Nissan and Honda are nearing a merger come 2026 if everything goes according to plan. It’s a big move that’s sure to shake up the auto industry should everything come together, and apparently, it was love at first sight. I say that because Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda explained in a recent interview with Inside EVs that Nissan never even asked them to dance.
“[Nissan] did not approach Toyota about any mergers,” Toyoda told InsideEVs through an interpreter. “But even if they had considered that, it would definitely be violating anti-monopoly laws. So maybe they might have considered it, but decided not to because of that.”
I’m not sure why a Nissan-Toyota partnership would violate anti-monopoly laws but a Nissan-Honda partnership wouldn’t, though maybe it has to do with Toyota owning so much of the overall market share. Regardless, The Drive reached out to Nissan and asked them to confirm Toyoda’s claims. We’ll update this story if we get a response.
That’s not to say that Toyota is jealous, of course. It has its own partnerships, albeit on a much smaller scale. Toyota teams with Subaru for both the GR86/BRZ and the bZ4X/Solterra EVs. It also supplies its RAV4 hybrid powertrain to Mazda and the Supra is built alongside the BMW Z4. Plus, Toyota seems to feel that the increased competition from Nissan-Honda will only make the industry better.
“For me, it’s quite exciting, because I’m looking forward to [seeing] how they’re going to cooperate between each other and how they’re going to develop more competitive products,” Toyoda said. “If those kinds of exciting products, competitive products, come out [of this merger], I think it’s a good thing for the competition not only in Japan but for the world.”
Should the Nissan-Honda merger be finalized—they’ve only reached a memorandum of understanding (MOU)—Toyota would still be the world’s largest automaker and the newly formed auto conglomerate would sit at third. But maybe it would’ve liked to have been asked before Nissan went straight to Honda.
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