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 82 points 2 days ago (17 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 35 points 2 days 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 2 days 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 111 points 2 days 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 84 points 2 days 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 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days 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 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days 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 2 days 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 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days 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 89 points 2 days ago (14 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 90 points 2 days 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.

[–] Zetta@mander.xyz 17 points 2 days 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.

[–] olympicyes@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days 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.

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[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 30 points 2 days 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 2 days 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 2 days 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 2 days 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.

[–] BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

We're just going to have to spend the next 20 years researching each model to figure out whether it was made by nissan guys in nissan plants or honda guys in honda plants. It will probably realistically be functionally separated for a long time. Hopefully, everything will settle closer to honda quality.

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[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 45 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days 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 2 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] Nindelofocho@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days 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 2 days ago
[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Mergers should be illegal.

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[–] Zdvarko@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago (6 children)
[–] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago
[–] Nasan@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 days ago

Acfiniti? Infinura?

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[–] eggymachus@sh.itjust.works 22 points 2 days ago
[–] nevemsenki@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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

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[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 18 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Expect less competition and higher prices

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[–] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days 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 2 days ago (1 children)

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

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[–] DudeImMacGyver@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 days ago
[–] DavidGA@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] kubica@fedia.io 21 points 2 days ago (2 children)
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