Carlos Ghosn, the ousted former boss of Nissan, said Monday that the Japanese automaker was in “panic mode” as it enters merger talks with archrival Honda. Nissan announced this Monday in a statement that the two companies had agreed to enter into negotiations for a merger that could create the world number three in the sector.
Mitsubishi Motors, of which Nissan is the main shareholder, will be able to participate in the negotiations to integrate the new industrial alliance into a “single holding company.”
Carlos Ghosn, arrested in Japan in 2018 on suspicion of embezzlement, fled the country hiding in a box of musical equipment the following year while out on bail.
“Frankly, I wonder how this is going to work,” the Franco-Lebanese-Brazilian septuagenarian, who is a fugitive in Lebanon, told reporters in Tokyo by video conference.
9,000 positions eliminated
Last month, heavily indebted Nissan announced it would cut 9,000 jobs from its global workforce and cut its production capacity, after suffering an unexpected net loss in the latest quarter and seeing its operating margin almost completely disappear. Carlos Ghosn said he was “absolutely not convinced that [Nissan] “It has the necessary talents to face the challenges it faces.” According to him, the group is today “in panic mode, pleading with its old enemy” Honda.
Honda and Nissan, the second and third Japanese automaker, respectively, behind Toyota, intend to close a merger agreement in June 2025, according to several local media. Carlos Ghosn, who denies any wrongdoing and says he fled Japan because he did not believe he would receive a fair trial, ruled that Nissan had “sidelined itself because of its own mistakes.”
“Honda is much stronger than Nissan, but it is not yet a developing force in this industry” in the face of the strategic shift in electric vehicles, a niche dominated by Chinese manufacturers and the American Tesla, he added. He also said he was “surprised” by the news of this merger because “there is no complementarity” between Nissan and Honda, whose strengths and weaknesses are in the same areas.
“From an industrial point of view, there are duplicates everywhere. So it doesn’t make sense to me,” he snapped.
Although the two companies could “find synergies for the future, I don’t see anything obvious in this partnership or alliance.”
“Control before action”
Taiwanese electronics assembly giant Foxconn also approached Nissan to acquire a majority stake, according to the Japanese press, precipitating the opening of negotiations with Honda. If the Japanese government does not want to lose control of Nissan and prefers it to be “in the hands of another Japanese interest, then it makes sense politically,” admitted Carlos Ghosn. “But this means that we are once again putting control before performance,” he added.
Source: BFM TV
