EDITORIAL | Japan's EV Carmakers Must Join Forces to Catch Up with Global Market

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation will join the strategic alliance in the electric vehicle (EV) field that Honda Motor Co, Ltd and Nissan Motor Corporation are discussing. Honda and Nissan are two of Japan's major domestic automakers and Mitsubishi is a subsidiary of Nissan.

The three companies will collaborate to develop in-vehicle software, a key to expanding EV functions and services.

All three firms have also agreed to standardize the specifications of their drive units. Furthermore, they will promote mutual battery supply and standardization specifications hoping to reduce costs and alleviate investment burdens. That includes the costs of things like development.

Honda and Nissan will also jointly develop technology for next-generation vehicles, which they have dubbed "Software Defined Vehicles (SDV)." That would allow for improved vehicle performance through rewriting the software, just like smartphones. The two automakers intend to pool their technologies and create a corporate alliance that can win in global markets.

Combining Strengths to Better Compete

Both Honda and Nissan have competed fiercely domestically and internationally, and now they have forged a strategic partnership. Japanese manufacturers were slow to develop electric vehicles and SDVs. However, those are expected to become the core activity for carmakers in the future. Consequently, Japan fell far behind emerging American and Chinese manufacturers in this sector.

Nissan, the top Japanese electric vehicle manufacturer, only sold just under 140,000 EVs in 2023. That pales compared to 1.8 million vehicles sold by the top EV manufacturer, Tesla Inc of the United States, and the 1.57 million units sold by China's BYD Company Ltd, the world's No 2 EV maker. These emerging EV manufacturers have also adopted SDVs as a basic vehicle manufacturing strategy. That, too, has contributed to their rapid growth.

Honda president Toshihiro Mibe expressed a sense of crisis at a joint press conference, saying, "No single one of us can catch up with these rivals."

Where the Competition Stands

Their delay in entering the EV field has begun to affect the international competitiveness of Japanese carmakers. 

In the Chinese market, local manufacturers are pushing out the Japanese manufacturers. As a result, they are forced to scale back their operations, including by slashing production capacity. Chinese EVs have also started making inroads in Southeast Asian markets, where Japanese companies have a large market share.

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Among Japanese motor vehicle manufacturers other than these three, Toyota Motor Corporation is co-developing EVs with Subaru. It also has a capital investment in that company. Toyota is also working to standardize its onboard systems with Mazda. Thus, Japanese carmakers have consolidated into two camps as far as EVs are concerned. 

Without subsidies, the sticker prices for EVs are still high. Furthermore, the delay in establishing EV charging stations is a factor in the recent slackening of sales. This provides Japanese manufacturers some time to rebuild their EV businesses. Hopefully, both camps of Japanese carmakers will take advantage of this opportunity to breathe new life into their EV businesses. 

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(Read the editorial in Japanese.)

Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun