Once fierce rivals, Japanese car giants Honda and Nissan recently announced their plans to merge in 2026. The deal would create the world’s 3rd largest automaker. WSJ’s Sean McLain reports on why Nissan struggled in recent years and the challenges the merged company would face. Further Listening: -Inside Carlos Ghosn's Escape From Japan -The Future of Self-Driving Cars Is Here Further Reading: -Nissan Needs a Honda Rescue. What Went So Wrong? -Honda, Nissan Plan to Create World’s No. 3 Automaker in 2026 Merger Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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There's an iconic scene from the 2003 action movie Too Fast, Too Furious, a scene beloved by gearheads. And it begins, naturally, with cars rolling up to a starting line.
Of course, it's a street race. Looks like the streets of Miami, if I recall correctly.
That's our colleague Sean McClain. He covers the auto industry.
And there were very iconic cars from the 1990s and the early 2000s. And two in particular that I think are relevant for our discussions. One is a candy pink convertible made by Honda, an S2000. Whoa. And then we also have the Nissan Skyline GT-R, nicknamed Godzilla, rolling down the street, puffing smoke out of its wheel wells and shooting flames out the tailpipe.
And these are two of the most iconic vehicles of the street racing circuit from that period.
Honda versus Nissan, locked in a high-octane street race. Kind of like the rivalry they have in real life. Two Japanese car giants selling similar cars to similar customers. Which is why, just before Christmas, some news out of Japan was so surprising.
We are following some breaking news this morning. Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan have announced that they plan to merge. If the deal goes through, this would make the companies the third largest automakers in the world.
If you were to boil down this story into one simple idea, what would that be?
I mean, I would say this boils down to money and pure desperation.
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