this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2024
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Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan have announced plans to join forces and form the world’s third-largest automaker by sales as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels.

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[–] yessikg@lemmy.blahaj.zone 81 points 1 day ago (16 children)

This is a panic move because the Japanese car industry wasted a whole lot of time and money on hydrogen instead of EVs

[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 34 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I remember when Physics Girl took Shell money to promote hydrogen powered cars.

It was very suspicious that they never talked about how the hydrogen was produced.

[–] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago

And certainly never about the price of hydrogen. It's either running the car on fossil fuels with extra steps, or on solar and wind electricity with extra steps. Extra steps cost a lot.

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[–] Retro_unlimited@lemmy.world 108 points 1 day ago (17 children)

Honda is known for quality, and every old Nissan I see falls apart. I hope this doesn’t tank the quality of Honda.

[–] Carmakazi@lemmy.world 81 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Quality of basically every automaker has tanked post COVID, including Honda. And the prices are highway robbery too, its all a race to the bottom now.

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

So car-centrism is even more ✨ terrible ✨ now? Golly, who could've predicted that relying on and enforcing a single industry for most of our transportation might result in rampant enshittification?

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[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

I don't drive Nissans but a family memebr of mine has forever I don't mind them and haven't seen too many issues, im just glad Mitsubishi isn't a large part of this, yet anyway.

[–] Retro_unlimited@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I worked at a mechanic shop years ago and every Nissan that came in was falling apart, but they were all older 90s ones. Seats that don’t stay up, plastic panels broken and missing, glove boxes opened, latches and knobs broken, etc.

I owned a Mitsubishi before and it was like a Honda civic but way lower quality. It held up ok except when the brakes didn’t want to work when I really needed them. Yes I rear ended a few times until I decided to SCRAP the car at the junkers.

I owned several Hondas and they all were good quality (mostly 80-90s and a 2000). Usually basic maintenance it all it needed.

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[–] RxBrad@infosec.pub 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

My 2018 Honda Accord has been a nightmare, and I stubbornly refuse to replace it until it's 10 years old. I half-wonder if the quality has already started to go downhill.

From the factory, the air conditioner dumped all of its condensation onto the passenger-seat floorboards. Since then, I've had to get the AC unit replaced twice.

EVERYTHING rattles in that car -- the seatbelt mounts, the visors, all kinds of stuff inside the front console (maybe inside the ventilation system?), the front defroster bezel, and the trim around the back window. It drives me absolutely bonkers.

I'd actually been hoping Nissan would get their shit together in regards to their CVT transmissions... because my favorite car over the years was my 2003 Nissan Maxima.

...I guess I should see what Mazda has to offer...

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[–] kaitco@lemmy.world 87 points 1 day ago (13 children)

This is a bad idea. As someone comes from a “Honda family”, I drive a Honda because I don’t want a Nissan.

This feels like the quality of Hondas get to drop while the cost of Nissans get to jump. I fail to see how this benefits anyone.

[–] andyburke@fedia.io 88 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Alternative take: Honda fucked up by not going the EV route, now they're behind. Nissan built a fuckton of Leafs and probably has at least some decent in-house EV expertise built up. Best case scenario you get good Honda EVs.

It's probably not going to be the best case scenario, though.

[–] olympicyes@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

Fun Fact. 1st Gen Nissan Leaf’s have such bad battery capacity that they have no resale value but they are very popular in southeast Alaska where gas prices are high and there really isn’t anywhere to go (they are all islands) so a 60 mile range isn’t a handicap.

[–] Zetta@mander.xyz 16 points 1 day ago

Things aren't always black and white. It could turn out to be an okay intermediate. I'm not too mad about the loss of competition here because there are quite a few new EV makers that are attempting to succeed in the market.

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[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 30 points 1 day ago

The merger isn't supposed to help consumers. It's to help businesses that are incapable of keeping up and need support. The Japanese government has a history of merging companies together to ensure that they stay competitive. MITI did it in the 70s to Japanese technology companies like Sony, Sharp, Panasonic, etc. most of those are still around today and even leading the industry.

Again, this isn't to help any consumers.

[–] Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

As an owner of a Nissan I am thrilled Honda is bailing them out. I need those spare parts to flow.

[–] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No it's not going to be like that. I think they're going to exchange patents and things like that to catch up to the EV markets. The Japanese are very conservative when it comes to technology, believe it or not. Because of the older people being higher in hierarchy. They don't like change and disruption. Meanwhile in Korea and China, things have been moving fast and following the trends.

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[–] olympicyes@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Are you worried that this is like when Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas but the MD businessmen shoved out the engineers who ran Boeing?

As an aside I didn’t love my Honda but it didn’t require an engine replacement out of warranty like my Nissan did. I appreciated that Nissan did the right thing but it was concerning to need a new engine due to a manufacturing defect.

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[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 45 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

What this really is, is the first major OEM casualty from the EV transition.

Nissan was in deep deep trouble. This merger is a lifeline, they needed it to survive.

[–] Montagge@lemmy.zip 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Probably should have put some fans on the battery for the Leaf lol

[–] Nindelofocho@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (3 children)

If they expanded their lineup to be based on the Leaf EV instead of just leaving it a lil econobox and focusing on their god aweful CVT they may have had been a great early EV competitor. Instead, ownership just kept sucking and sucking the company dry

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[–] samus12345@lemm.ee 25 points 1 day ago
[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Mergers should be illegal.

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[–] Zdvarko@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago (6 children)
[–] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago
[–] Nasan@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 day ago

Acfiniti? Infinura?

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[–] eggymachus@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 day ago
[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Expect less competition and higher prices

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[–] nevemsenki@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Whelp, Renault is getting super fucked. Bailing out Nissan was a mistake.

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[–] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Nissan's failures: Trash CVT, Toyota prices, failed to expand their e-Power (series) Hybrid, missed the small pick-up truck in the USA, ignored the sub $20k EV and they allowed shitty Tesla to grab the EV market. It means Mitsubishi will end up with Honda and Nissan.

No word from Renault?

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[–] RagingSnarkasm@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is just too soon. I’m still shook up over losing Datsun in the 80s.

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[–] DavidGA@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] kubica@fedia.io 21 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Is it then called Hondan or Nissa?

[–] w3dd1e@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It’s crazy how much of the car market has already been consolidated. They just keep putting out cars with other makes, even if they are owned by the same company. Hyundai and Kia are a perfect example.

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