Honda and Nissan merge to combat declining fortunes

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Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi are exploring a merger to counter declining sales and the rising electrification costs. This move follows years of declining profitability for Nissan, culminating in a 73% drop in first-quarter 2024 net profit. Nissan's market share has also eroded, particularly in the US electric vehicle market, holding a mere 2.4% share. To address this, Nissan recently announced a restructuring plan involving job cuts and capacity reductions.

A combined entity—led by Honda—could generate significant revenue and operating profit. However, past auto industry mergers have often been unsuccessful due to integration challenges and cultural clashes. This merger aims to avoid these pitfalls by prioritizing a slower integration process and maintaining a holding company structure.

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Nissan's Leaf EV is 'here to stay'

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The Nissan Leaf brand seems to have been in limbo. There are reports that the compact electric hatchback will evolve into a different vehicle or that the Leaf brand will disappear entirely. During a media event in Tennessee last week, Aditya Jairaj, Nissan's director of EV marketing and sales strategy, said the "Leaf is here to stay."

The current Leaf recently received a refresh. And it's considered one of the least-expensive EVs on the market. But will it keep its form factor? Another Nissan spokesperson confirmed with CNET that "with time, design evolves." This confirmation coincides with reports that the Leaf could become a larger SUV. 

Nissan denies being in talks with Apple over its autonomous car

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According to the newest updates, don't expect Nissan to work with Apple on its autonomous car initiative. The Japanese car manufacturer issued a statement denying that it's in talks with Apple to develop its long-rumoured car. Financial Times reported earlier that Apple approached Nissan about a potential partnership "in recent months." 

But Nissan told Reuters it isn't meeting with Apple about this project. A spokesperson for the company said, "However, Nissan is always open to exploring collaborations and partnerships to accelerate industry transformation." 

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CES 2019: Nissan to demo tech that lets you ‘see’ around corners, find parking space

Nissan wants to make the invisible visible to you—like accidents in an unseen, upcoming corner or even a parking slot opening up near your destination. These are just a couple of practical implementations of what Nissan is calling its Invisible-to-Visible technology (I2V). And while it makes you think of uncloaking your car that’s hidden under an invisibility cloak, that isn’t what this future tech is about. Instead, what Nissan wants to achieve with this technology is to merge your physical and virtual worlds into a system you can use while on the road. It combines information from the sensors outside and inside the car as well as data from the cloud to help you see what’s happening behind a corner or street coming up so you can avoid traffic, watch out for pedestrians, and as mentioned, help you locate parking slots.

The automaker also introduces the idea of the “Metaverse,” which Wheels.ca describes as a “blockchain project that provides a foundational infrastructure for social and enterprise needs.” Through I2V technology and its access to the Metaverse, you can even have companions inside the car that are three-dimensional, augmented-reality avatars. These can be everyone from loved ones to local guides or professional drivers to help you while you’re on the road. The video above expounds what I2V hopes to bring to your future drives.