M’bishi likely to say in mid-Feb. whether to join Honda-Nissan merger

This Dec. 16, 2020 file photo shows the logo of Mitsubishi Motors Corp., in Tokyo. (Mainichi)

TOKYO (Kyodo) — The chief of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Monday that the Japanese automaker will make a final decision on whether to join a planned merger between Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. in mid-February or later, pushing back the plan from the end of January.

The delay comes as Honda and Nissan, which is the largest shareholder of Mitsubishi Motors, said last week that they would release the details of their plan by the end of January but postponed it to mid-February.

“We will announce our decision after thoroughly considering various possibilities” following Honda and Nissan’s unveiling of their merger plan details, President Takao Kato said in an online press conference on the company’s earnings report.

Honda and Nissan had agreed to launch negotiations on establishing a holding company in 2026 under which each company will operate.

Mitsubishi Motors is leaning toward not participating in the holding company, hoping to cooperate with Honda and Nissan without joining the merger, according to people familiar with the matter.

Kato said it would be difficult for his company to survive without ties with Nissan and Honda if the two automakers merge.

For the year ending March, Mitsubishi Motors cut its net profit outlook to 35 billion yen ($225 million) from an earlier projection of 144 billion yen, citing weaker-than-expected shipments and increased sales costs.

Its annual sales are now projected at 2.76 trillion yen, compared with an earlier forecast of 2.88 trillion yen.

For the nine months ended December, net profit sagged 52.7 percent from a year earlier to 78.54 billion yen on sales of 1.99 trillion yen, down 3.6 percent.

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