While the Honda-Nissan merger is no more, a Japanese group is drawing up plans for Tesla to invest in Nissan, Reuters has reported, citing the Financial Times.
Described as a high-level Japanese group that involves former prime minister Yoshihide Suga and his former aide, this group has drawn up plans for the American EV maker to become a strategic investor in Nissan, and the group believes Tesla is keen to acquire Nissan’s production plants in the United States, according to the FT report.
However, the office of the former Japanese prime minister stated it was not aware of a plan to encourage Tesla to invest in Nissan. Suga was the prime minister of Japan from 2020 to 2021, though he continues to be a member of Japan’s lower house, representing a constituency in the Kanagawa prefecture, where Nissan is based.
In addition, Reuters cited analysts as being doubtful Tesla would be interested in acquiring vehicle assembly plants in the United States, as the EV maker has “ample capacity” at existing factories and just experienced its first decline in yearly deliveries last year, and it said last month that it expects to return to sales volume growth this year.
Following the termination of the Nissan-Honda merger deal earlier this month, Nissan is reportedly open to new partnerships, and Foxconn has reportedly become a possible candidate. Meanwhile, a report by Nikkei has said that Foxconn has proposed forming a partnership with Honda, to ultimately create a four-way framework that would also include Nissan and Mitsubishi.
The MoU to explore the possibility of a merger into a joint holding company was signed by Honda and Nissan in December 2024, as Mitsubishi considered joining the alliance.
Honda and Nissan jointly announced the termination of the MoU on February 13, however both Honda and Nissan stated that they will continue to “collaborate within the framework of a strategic partnership aimed at the era of intelligence and electrified vehicles,” regarding previous MoUs focusing on joint research for vehicle intelligence and electrification.
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