Honda and Nissan will unveil an outline of their business integration around mid-February, informed sources said Friday.
The two Japanese automakers delayed the announcement on the outline, which was originally planned for the end of January, as Honda wants to examine Nissan's reconstruction measures further, according to the sources. They will accelerate discussions in their committee to prepare for the integration.
Mitsubishi Motors will also postpone making a final decision on whether to join the integration to February or later. It is currently planning not to be part of a holding company that Honda and Nissan are considering establishing, hoping to promptly decide what to do after confirming the discussions between Honda and Nissan.
Nissan's poor business performance has been the biggest obstacle in the discussions. As a condition for integration, Honda is demanding that Nissan conducts restructuring measures.
Nissan plans to cut 9,000 from its workforce, equivalent to about 7% of its employees, and cut production capacity by 20%. But the current measures only include 25% cuts in production capacity at three North American plants. If Nissan does not produce concrete plans more quickly, the integration deliberations may be broken off.
The two companies said in December last year that they would consider integration, seeking to boost production efficiency including by reorganizing production bases. They also aim to alleviate burdens from huge investments for electric vehicles by sharing in-vehicle software.
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