TOKYO: Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. said Friday the major Japanese automakers will cooperate with each other in wide-ranging fields associated with electric vehicles.

Exchanging a memorandum of understanding for comprehensive collaboration the same day, they will start considering how they can specifically work together in, among others, developing cutting-edge software platforms and core components for EVs.

Japan’s second and third biggest automakers’ business tie-up may transform the domestic auto industry’s landscape, pundits said.

At a press conference in Tokyo, Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida said, “It’s very difficult for our company alone to develop all the technologies necessary for electrification.”

“The cost (reduction) effect is very strong,” Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe added.

Japanese automakers lag behind foreign rivals in the development of EVs at a time when such major vehicle markets as China, Europe and the United States are rapidly shifting from gasoline engines to electric motors.

Particularly in China, Nissan and Honda are considering cuts in excess output capacity in the face of the rise of local EV makers. Price competition has been intensifying, too, making it necessary for the two firms to curb development and production costs.

Although EV sales have shown signs of a slowdown, Nissan and Honda have judged that the trends of decarbonization and vehicle electrification will continue in the medium to long term, and concluded that they should join hands to strengthen their competitiveness, people familiar with the matter said.

JIJI Press