Carlos Ghosn: Japanese authorities forced Honda to save Nissan

The former head of Renault-Nissan Corporation, in a conversation with Bloomberg, again criticized the deal between the auto giants. According to Carlos Ghosn, synergy between Honda and Nissan is difficult to find, because both brands are in the same markets and play in the same niches. The brands are very similar, so the merger does not look like a pragmatic step, it is a gesture of desperation under pressure from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Japan.

Carlos Ghosn recalled his own experience of living in Japan: in his opinion, METI (Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) is a very influential organization that lobbied for the deal. Honda was not interested in saving Nissan, but was forced to support the third largest automaker in the Land of the Rising Sun.

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The head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Japan, Yoji Muto, does not hide the fact that he welcomes negotiations on the merger of Honda and Nissan. The minister emphasized that the merger will lead to an increase in the capitalization of corporations and increased competitiveness. If the companies do form an alliance, Honda-Nissan will become the third-largest manufacturer in the world, behind only Toyota and Volkswagen. However, Carlos Ghosn believes that conflicts cannot be avoided, because both companies have very strong engineering, but someone will have to accept the partner’s decisions.

Carlos Ghosn first spoke about the merger of Honda and Nissan in August, and even then the functionary said that we were talking about the takeover of a company in distress. Also in the perimeter of the deal may be Mitsubishi, whose business is also not going well.

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