The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
By Antony Currie
MELBOURNE, Dec 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - There’s some logic to the struggling Japanese carmakers balking at speeding into a $50 bln tie-up. But taking at least 18 months to test the waters risks losing even more ground to their increasingly dominant Chinese rivals. Potential US tariffs strengthen the case for alacrity.
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CONTEXT NEWS
Honda Motor and Nissan Motor on Dec. 23 said they have signed a memorandum of understanding to spend six months discussing a potential business integration.
If the two carmakers agree to proceed around June 2025, they would first set up a holding company to be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by August 2026, at which point both companies’ shares would be delisted.
Mitsubishi Motors, which is 34%-owned by Nissan, will decide by the end of January 2025 whether to join the discussions.
(Editing by Robyn Mak and Oliver Taslic)
((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on CURRIE/antony.currie@thomsonreuters.com))