Carlos Ghosn: Honda-Nissan Merger Talks ‘Desperate’ And Prompted By ‘Panic’

Ousted and exiled former Nissan president and CEO Carlos Ghosn has voiced his observations about the recent Nissan-Honda merger talks and, predictable, the former exec lashed out against his former employers Nissan.

As reported prior, embattled Japanese automaker Nissan has begun initial discussions with long time rivals Honda over a possible merger. Whilst scores of observers and industry experts have lauded plenty of positives should the merger occur, some have expressed the opposite.

Predictably, chief amongst the nay-sayers is none other than Carlos Ghosn – ousted and exiled former Nissan president and CEO. Even before the recent merger talks occurred, Ghosn had famously touted Nissan’s recent collaboration agreement with Honda to develop electric vehicles (EVs) and related tech was, in actuality, a “disguised take-over” by the rivalling H-marque.

And it seems the former exec, who famously fled persecution and house arrest by his former employers and the Japanese government by smuggling himself out of the country in a music instrument transport case, is adamant that a merger between Nissan and Honda spells big trouble for the former, adding that the latter isn’t exactly keen on the move either.

Prior to the recent merger talks, Ghosn had famously touted Nissan's existing collaboration with Honda as a "disguised take-over" by the latter H-brand of the former.

Ghosn, who previously led Nissan from 1999 to 2018, called the merger talks between Nissan and Honda as a "desperate move" borne out of a "panic" state.

In his recent interview with global business wire Bloomberg, Ghosn, who seems to have access to in-depth insider information about the matter still, had plenty to say. Firstly, he declared the discussions “a desperate move,” prompted by “panic”, touting it as an unpragmatic deal given that synergies between the two automakers are difficult to find.

“There is practically no complementary [relationship] between the two companies. They are in similar markets. They are [in on] the same products. The brands are very similar,” argued Ghosn in his Bloomberg interview mentioned held late last week. Ghosn further empahsised that the deal was also borne out of panic, likely due to the next reason.

“Honda, which if I understand well, they are not very excited about this move, but you know, you have to count with METI in Japan,” continued Ghosn as he alluded to the political pressures applied by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). In fact, Ghosn insists that said ministry is pressuring Honda for the deal to ultimately keep one of Japan’s biggest automaker’s alive.

In the same interview, Ghosn even raised the political pressure applied by Japan's METI over Honda to pursue the deal.

“In my opinion, there is no industrial logic to it, but there is a moment when you have to choose between performance and control. Obviously, if you can have both, it’s better. But there are moments when you have to choose, and without any doubt, with METI and everything I know from it, they prefer control over performance. So they pushed Honda into the deal, without any doubt,” adds Ghosn.

Though it’s easily agreeable to call these the bitter words of an ousted and disgraced former company head, Ghosn has at least proven to have some insight into the situation. In the same interview, Ghosn also went on to raise even more issues that could arise from a possible Nissan-Honda merger mentioned, including clashes in engineering ideology and more.

Well, what say you folks? Are you in agreement with the exiled 70-year-old former head of Nissan regarding the situation? Watch the full interview embedded below, and share your take on things in the comments below – as well as our social media pages…