Possible Nissan/Honda merger

[fjord]

What's left is to figure out is the new name. Some ideas:
Honsan
Nissda
Honnis
Datsuda (old school)
Honda

Others?

 

[cwerdna]

Yeah, there will be lots of layoffs, but probably a lot fewer than if Nissan went under.

Yeah, there are a near infinite # of possible combo names. I'd seen a ton of jokes/suggestions on one FB threads like:
Ni-Ho
Nissonda
Nihon

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

By many accounts, Nissan is in trouble so it seems Nissan needs this more than the other way around.

If it goes through, I see this as a chance Nissan will still be around in some form vs. them going under. It at least would provide some cost savings due to redundancies (e.g. some will be laid off, likely from Nissan) and gives them more economies of scale from a purchasing and R&D point of view.

Too bad Carlos Ghosn isn't an option with what a bunch of conspirators did to him. I suspect if he were still in charge, Nissan wouldn't be in such dire straits or that he could pull off a turnaround again. He saved Nissan from near death around 1999. I remember reading https://www.titantalk.com/threads/nissan-ceo-the-making-of-a-superstar.21966/ when it was originally posted on DetNews.

Agreed. Would be interesting to see how Ghosn would have continued had he stayed. Nissan had the big jump on the EV market but him and Palmer leaving completely derailed that advantage. New management simply went into a near decade long holding pattern producing ZERO new products. By then the reputation was destroyed despite Nissan doing a fairly good job on the new LEAFs. But 2 products in 14 years? That is really sad.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Yeah, there will be lots of layoffs, but probably a lot fewer than if Nissan went under.

Yeah, there are a near infinite # of possible combo names. I'd seen a ton of jokes/suggestions on one FB threads like:
Ni-Ho
Nissonda
Nihon

Ni (2) Hon (book) would be an interesting change from Ni (2) San (3) But with Mitsubishi, maybe it should be SanHon (3 books)
Interestingly, numbers are designated several different ways so things like "named" numbers like "floor 3" Would use Mitsu so perhaps Mitsu-hon ?

 

[Toby]

New management simply went into a near decade long holding pattern producing ZERO new products. By then the reputation was destroyed despite Nissan doing a fairly good job on the new LEAFs.

I think the new management went into a major snit. They wouldn't even fix the Leaf's shortcomings, Chademo in North America, lack of battery temperature control, etc. How much business in North Americans did they lose because of Chademo?

 

[cwerdna]

Agreed. Would be interesting to see how Ghosn would have continued had he stayed. Nissan had the big jump on the EV market but him and Palmer leaving completely derailed that advantage. New management simply went into a near decade long holding pattern producing ZERO new products. By then the reputation was destroyed despite Nissan doing a fairly good job on the new LEAFs. But 2 products in 14 years? That is really sad.

I can't speak to Nissan's entire product lineup and "new" products that but on the BEV space that were new, there was:
Leaf
Ariya
Sakura (not helpful for North America)
Sylphy EV (https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/nissan-sylphy-zero-emission-now-on-sale-in-china).

Them doing e-Power series hybrids let them at least realize some economies of scale and R&D savings as they were able to reuse some EV bits like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_EM_motor#EM57.

But yeah, Nissan was obviously too slow moving. They came out with gen 2 Leaf with only ~150 mile EPA range AFTER Bolt came out with over 230 miles of EPA range. And, it took them until Ariya to come out w/something for North America and Europe with liquid battery cooling and CCS.

 

[fjord]

It is disappointing that the 2015 SV I had and the 2024 SV+ I have are so modestly different - and shamefully identical in charging. Nine years and only here-and-there tweaks and small improvements, when Nissan had so much time and so many chances to really evolve the Leaf. The Model T or Volkswagen Beetle it ain't.

 

[Bombastinator2]

What's left is to figure out is the new name. Some ideas:
Honsan
Nissda
Honnis
Datsuda (old school)
Honda

Others?

I suspect Honda will stay Honda, and Nissan will stay Nissan, unless it changes to Datsun. Like when fiat bought Chrysler from Mercedes. Theres going to be some sort of holding company called something else, that owns both. For Toyota it was at one time Toyo Kogo. This is two holding companies becoming one, I suspect. I have no idea what the holding company name is for either though. It could be something straight forward like “Nissan holdings” or something. Or it might not.

 

[cwerdna]

It is disappointing that the 2015 SV I had and the 2024 SV+ I have are so modestly different - and shamefully identical in charging. Nine years and only here-and-there tweaks and small improvements, when Nissan had so much time and so many chances to really evolve the Leaf. The Model T or Volkswagen Beetle it ain't.

Well, from the charging POV, I agree, not much different: 6.6 kW OBC and DC FCing is at least faster on a Plus.

But with gen 2 (model year 18+), the interior and exterior were redone. And, there were so many new features that didn't exist even as an option on the gen 1 like AEB, blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, ProPilot Assist (and Park for some outside the US), e-pedal, a power seat, CarPlay, Android Auto, etc. And, the 40 kWh Leaf got more power and the Plus got even more power so both accelerate faster, esp. the Plus.

Look at the prices on '11 Leaf (remember, EPA range rating was only 73 miles): https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/100831-02-e
"MY 2011 Nissan LEAF SV: $32,780"
"Model Year 11 Nissan LEAF SL: $33,720
...
Quick Charge Option: $700
Available with the SL trim, this charge port on the vehicle will allow for charging to 80 percent capacity in 30 minutes at compatible high voltage public charging stations.

Destination & Handling: $820"

On '12, SL came w/CHAdeMO was a forced feature.

On '13, it came on SL and was optional on SV and the new S trim. And, '13 was a refresh with OBC being 6.6 kW instead of 3.x kW + being moved to the front, black leather being a choice, black cloth being a choice, Around View Monitor and better stereo as an option, B mode, a bit more trunk room, etc.


Look at pricing of '19 Leaf at https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/re...abId=release-a060cacaae1345c89f75c4bf3cd8b2cf. Non-Plus SV 40 kWh is about the same price as the '11 but 2x the range, accelerates faster and has way more available features.

It seems like basically any feature improvement on Leaf stopped with '19 Plus. I can't think of anything other than some price changes, trim levels being axed, features being shuffled by package/trim, minor cosmetic things (e.g. wheel changes) that happened after that, at least on US Leafs.

 

[Stanton]

It is disappointing that the 2015 SV I had and the 2024 SV+ I have are so modestly different - and shamefully identical in charging. Nine years and only here-and-there tweaks and small improvements, when Nissan had so much time and so many chances to really evolve the Leaf. The Model T or Volkswagen Beetle it ain't.

But the flip-side benefit is: drop your 40 kWh 2024 pack (or any Gen2 Leaf pack) into that 2015 and you basically have a new car. From that perspective, Nissan was way ahead (in 2011) when it designed an EV platform that would ultimately last 10+ years. What happened? They fired/arrested Ghosn and the company went down the tubes; the fall of Nissan will be studied in business school decades from now...and not in a good way.